f deception the most ingenious
of human impositions are vulgar and transparent. Fraud is not only the
great rule of life in a tropical forest, but the one condition of it."

Many of the larger cats live in trees, and most of them have spotted or
oscillated skins, which aid them in hiding among foliage plants. The
puma who wears a brown coat is an exception, but it must be remembered
that he does not need the kind of coat his fellow friends wear. He
clings so closely to the body of a tree while waiting for his prey as to
be almost invisible.

This phenomenon is true throughout the animal world. Everywhere does
Nature aid in escape and capture. Only those skilled in the ways of the
wild fully realise how conspicuous amidst foliage, for instance, would
be a uniform colouration. A parti-coloured pattern is extremely
deceptive and thus protective, and for this reason one seldom sees in
Nature a background of one colour; and since the large majority of
animals need concealment, it is necessary for them to be clothed in
patterns that vary.

These variations are especially noticeable in young animals, and furnish
them with a mantle that is practically invisible to predatory enemies
during the time they are left unprotected by their parents. These
protective mantles often differ strikingly in pattern and colouration
from those of their parents, and indicate that the young animals
present the colouration and pattern of their remote forbears. It might
even be said that "the skins of the fathers are thrust upon the
children, even unto the third and fourth generation!" In fact, it is
quite probable that they give through this varying colouration the
"life-history" of their family.

In all hoofed animals--antelope, deer, horses--the protective
colouration is also adapted to habitat and environment. Most deer belong
to the forest, carefully avoiding the open deserts and staying near
water. They live chiefly in the jungle or scrub, and are usually spotted
with red and white in such a way as to be almost invisible to a casual
observer; some, however, that live in the very shady places are
uniformly dark so as to harmonise with their surroundings. The wild
horses and asses of Central Asia are dun-coloured--corresponding exactly
to their sandy habitat.

The Shakesperian conception of the human world as a stage may be
paralleled in the animal world. Animals, like human beings, have all a
definite role to play in the drama of life. Ea