4- LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



Gnus of Africa. On the other hand, white transverse stripes on 

 a tawny or chestnut ground are common among Antelopes, 

 whereas they are quite unknown m the Cats. And whereas in 

 the latter group dark spots on a light ground are prevalent, in 

 the former just the reverse of this arrangement holds gocd. 

 That there is some sufficient reason for this prevalence of one 

 type of coloration in one group of animals, and its replace- 

 ment by another in a second, may be taken for granted, 

 although at present naturalists have not succeeded in unravel- 

 ling the mystery in which the subject is enveloped. 



The Cats, under which title are included Lions, Tigers, Leo* 

 pards, Pumas, Tiger-Cats, Domestic Cats, and Lynxes, form a 

 well-marked family group of the Terrestrial Carnivora, readily 

 distinguished from most of their allies, with the exception of 

 the Fossa (Cryptoprocta) of Madagascar, by which they appear 

 closely connected with the Civets ( Vive rr idee). In this work we 

 must take it for granted that the reader is more or less in- 

 timately acquainted with the distinctive structural features of 

 the Carnivora — a group which, in addition to the more typical 

 terrestrial forms, is likewise taken to include the aquatic Seals 

 and Walruses. It may be mentioned here, however, that the 

 Terrestrial Carnivora, among which the Otters and Sea-Otters 

 are included, are specially characterised by the special develop- 

 ment of a pair of teeth in each jaw to bite against one another 

 with a more or less marked "scissor "-like action ; although the 

 peculiar features of these teeth are less conspicuously marked in 

 the Bears and Racoons than in the majority of the other mem- 

 bers of the group. Not the least remarkable feature connected 

 with these teeth, which, as already mentioned, are termed car- 

 nassials or sectorials, is the circumstance that the upper pair do 

 not correspond serially w r ith those of the lower jaw. That is to 

 say, that while in the upper jaw this pair of teeth belong to the 

 pre-molar series, or those preceded by milk- or baby-teeth, 



