The Descent of Man

and might easily be overlooked. The next higher
spot does not differ at all from the upper
ones in the same row. The larger basal spots
occupy exactly the same relative position on
these feathers as do the perfect ocelli on the
longer wing-feathers.
By looking to the next two or three succeeding
wing-feathers, an absolutely insensible gradation
can be traced from one of the lastdescribed
basal spots, together with the next
higher one in the same row, to a curious ornament,
which cannot be called an ocellus, and
which I will name, from the want of a better
term, an "elliptic ornament." These are shewn
in the accompanying figure (Fig. 59). We here
see several oblique rows, A, B, C, D, etc. (see
the lettered diagram on the right hand), of dark
spots of the usual character. Each row of spots
runs down to and is connected with one of the
elliptic ornaments, in exactly the same manner
as each stripe in Fig. 57 runs down to and is