ON TABBY CATS. 



And some features in the Inheritance of their Coat 

 Patterns and Colour.* 



An Address delivered to the Mendel Society on 

 June Qth, 1910. 



By R. I. POCOCK, F.L.S., F.Z.S., 



Superintendent of the Zoological Society's Gardens. 



According to its derivation from the Arabic atabi, 

 meaning a particular kind of watered silk, the epithet 

 " tabby " is applicable, strictly speaking, to any 

 thing with a wavy pattern, like that of the material 

 in question ; but for no very obvious reason it seems 

 by common consent to be restricted in use to domestic 

 cats marked with a definite brindled or striped pattern. 

 Quite superficial scrutiny will show that tabby 

 cats may be readily sorted by their patterns into two 

 distinct kinds which differ so greatly from one another 

 that no zoologist would hesitate to regard them as 

 representing different species if they existed in a 

 natural state. In one kind, which may be called the 

 " Striped Tabby," the sides of the body are marked 

 with narrow, wavy, vertical stripes stretching from 

 the back towards the belly, and commonly showing a 

 tendency, especially on the hindquarters, to break up 



" The question of the origin and relationship of the breeds of 

 domestic cats has been alreadj' dealt with by the author in Pro- 

 ceedings Zoological Societ}', 1907, pp. 143-168, pts. viii.-x. 



