COLOURS OF CATS 393 



creature the spots, it is said, give the impression of flecks of sun- 

 light broken up by foliage. On the other hand, the self-coloured 

 Oats of a sandy to earthen hue assimilate in tint with a sandy or 

 stony soil. The stripes of the Tiger, it is thought, approximate 

 to the tall parallel stems of grasses and other plants in the dense 

 cover in which it lives. In favour of these views is undoubtedly 

 the fact that in other mammals and other animals belonging to 

 quite different groups the same four plans of coloration are met 

 with. Spots and cross stripes are found in the Marsupials ; the 

 young Tapir is spotted while the adult is self-coloured, and so 

 forth. This last fact, however, serves to illustrate another view 

 which has been put forward in explanation of these characteristic 

 markings of the Felidae. Eimer has come to the conclusion 

 that there is and has been a regular series of steps in the 

 evolution of these markings. The primitive condition was, he 

 thinks, a longitudinally striped one ; the stripes then broke up 

 into spots, and the spots rearranged themselves as transverse 

 stripes ; the self-coloured Puma and Lion are a final stage in this 

 gradual evolution. In support of this is the fact that spots 

 precede self-coloration in the individual growth of these animals. 

 The exact sequence of these markings is, however, contradicted 

 by Dr. Haacke's observations upon a certain Australian fish 

 which is cross striped when young and longitudinally striped 

 when adult, a precise reversal of what ought to occur on Eimer's 

 view. 



The Felidae are almost universally distributed with the ex- 

 ception, of course, of Australia and a good deal of the Australian 

 region; the headquarters of the group are undoubtedly in the 

 tropics of the Old World. 



The characteristics of a few species of the Cat tribe will now 

 be given. As there are at any rate forty-five species, this survey 

 will have to be somewhat incomplete. 



The Lion, F. leo, differs from all other species by the mane of 

 the male. It is an inhabitant of Africa, India, and certain parts 

 of Western Asia. Within the historic period it ranged into 

 Europe. According to Sir Samuel Baker those of us who have 

 not seen the Lion in his native haunts have never seen a really 

 magnificent specimen of the brute ; but other travellers disagree, 

 and state that a captive Lion is often a finer animal by reason, 

 of course, of good feeding. Unlike the majority of Cats, the Lion 



LU LIBRA 



