TABBY CATS 55 



into spots ; the middle line of the back is confusedly 

 marked, but shows no broad longitudinal stripe on 

 each side of the spine (Plate 1 ). In the other kind, which 

 may be called the " Blotched Tabby," the stripes are 

 much broader and fewer, and form on the sides of 

 the body a somewhat spiral or circular arrangement 

 which fanciers speak of as the " horse-shoe " mark ; 

 while on the back there are three longitudinal stripes 

 — a thinner one in the middle line and a broader one 

 on each side of it (Plate 2). 



There is considerable individual variation in both 

 these types. In the Striped Tabby the stripes may 

 be broken up into larger or smaller spots, so that the 

 original pattern is more or less obscured ; and in 

 the Blotched Tabby the dark marks may widen and 

 extend over and more or less obliterate the paler 

 intervening areas ; but whatever be the nature of the 

 variation, it never seems to take the direction of 

 convergence of one type of pattern towards the other. 

 The two do not intergrade, and when once the 

 differences between them have been seen and under- 

 stood, there is no difficulty in assigning every tabby 

 cat to the one type or the other. 



This is a very remarkable fact ; yet only within 

 the last few years has its importance been appre- 

 ciated. Breeders and exhibitors of domestic cats 

 have long been acquainted with it ; but it rarely 

 happens that fanciers take a scientific interest in their 

 pets, and apparently no cat fancier of either sex has 

 troubled about the real meaning of tabby markings. 

 From this ignorance of the significance of pattern, it 



