THE MARKINGS ON ANIMALS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR:1
SIR,—May an unscientific reader be permitted to ask whether the stripes or mottlings on the coats of a large number of animals may not be due to some other origin than "protective imitation," whether of snakes or not ? All the "cats "—large and small—zebras, giraffes, deer, are striped or spotted. Is, it impossible that these marks may have originated in the impression on the eyes of their primeval ancestress of the lights and shadows of the vegetation about them ? The idea was suggested to me by the theory of the shepherds in North Wales, that the peculiar smoky grey patches seen on lambs bred on the mountain pastures are caused by the cloud shadows, constantly passing before the eyes of the grazing ewes. The notion recalls Jacob's well-known stratagem.—I am, Sir, &c., ETA3tHBETI.
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