The Descent of Man

curiously-ornamented Tragelaphus scriptus
(Fig. 70),—we cannot believe that differences of
this kind are of any service to either sex in their
daily habits of life. It seems a much more probable
conclusion that the various marks were
first acquired by the males and their colours
intensified through sexual selection, and then
partially transferred to the females. If this view
be admitted, there can be little doubt that the
equally singular colours and marks of many
other antelopes, though common to both sexes,
have been gained and transmitted in a like
manner. Both sexes, for instance, of the koodoo
(Strepsiceros kudu) (Fig. 64) have narrow white
vertical lines on their hind flanks, and an elegant
angular white mark on their foreheads.
Both sexes in the genus Damalis are very oddly
coloured; in D. pygarga the back and neck are
purplish-red, shading on the flanks into black;
and these colours are abruptly separated from
the white belly and from a large white space on
the buttocks; the head is still more oddly colou-