| OCR Text |
Show PIONEER IN FLASH SIGNALS. tiaturi Has Provided Antelope With , the Apparatus. Another remarkable detail of the antelope's an-telope's anatomy Is tlict white area on each buttock. Although it seems at first like the rest of his spots, a mere patch .'of white coat,, it In found to bo specialized for an Important service It Is Composed of hair graded from short In the contcr to long at the front edges.. Under tho skin of the part Is a clrctilnr muscle, by means of which tho hair can In ,n moment be raised and Bpread radically into two groat blooming twlu chrysanthemums, mom or less flattoned at tho center. When this Is dono In bright sunlight they shine ,llko tin pirns, giving flashes of light that can be seen further than tho animal Itself, affording n conspicuous Identification mnrk that muso bo of great service to tho species. As soon, therefore, ns an antelope sees some strange, or .thrilling qbjoct this muscle act's, and tho rump patch Is instantly changed Into a great doublo disk of white that shines afar i like a patch of snow and by'lts flo'.h- ing spreads thd alarm'.-. This, it will bo seen. Is simply a .heliograph. Man flrXers himself that lio was the Investor In-vestor of flash communication, but ho is wrong; tho antolopo had it first. They used it thousands of generations beforo man over dreamed of it. ' |
