58 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



So, too, with colour. Black varieties or " muta- 

 tions " of wild species of Felis occur in a state of 

 nature. Black leopards and jaguars are not un- 

 common ; black servals have been shot on several 

 occasions, and black tigers have been recorded. 

 Leopards of tropical Asia are richly tinted ; those of 

 Persia are markedly greyer ; while those of tropical 

 West Africa usually have a characteristic dusky hue, 

 as compared with Asiatic specimens. Again, some 

 species of wild Cats are dichroic ; that is to say, 

 reddish or blackish specimens occur side by side in 

 the same locality. This phenomenon is known in 

 the South American Jaguarondi Cat {F. jaguarondi) ; 

 the West African Tiger Cat {F. aurata), and in the 

 east Asiatic Temminck's Golden Cat {F. temmincki). 

 What is perhaps more remarkable still is that an 

 example of theW est African Tiger Cat that lived in 

 the Zoological Gardens changed its colour from dark 

 brown to blackish grey during growth.* 



All these facts point to the conclusion that colour 

 is a somewhat variable feature in Cats, and since the 

 pattern, when pattern exists, in the above-mentioned 

 species remains the same whatever be the tint of the 

 ground colour, it is evident that pattern is a more 

 stable characteristic than tint. The spots of black 

 leopards are always, it seems, visible in certain 

 lights. Similarly the tabby pattern always appears 

 to be detectable in black kittens of domestic Cats. I 

 have often seen it also in white kittens, the visibleness 



* Proceedings Zoological Society, 1907, p. 659. 



