MA TING. 97 



Then in what are termed the sandies and browns, it 

 commences with the yellow-white, a colour scarcely visible 

 apart from white to the uninitiated eye ; then darker and 

 darker^ until it culminates in deep brown, with the interven- 

 ing yellows, reds, chestnuts, mahoganys, and such colours, 

 which generally are striped with a darker colour of nearly 

 their own shade, until growing denser, it ends in brown- 

 black. 



The gray tabby has a ground colour of gray. In this 

 there are the various shades from little or no markings, 

 leaving the colour a brown or gray, or the gray gradually 

 disappearing before the advance of the black in broader 

 and broader bands, until the first is excluded and black is 

 the result. 



The tortoiseshell is a skilful mixture of colours in 

 patches, and is certainly an exhibition of what may be done 

 by careful selection, mating, and crossing of an animal while 

 under the control of man, in a state of thorough domestica- 

 tion. What the almond tumbler is to the pigeon fancier, 

 so is the tortoiseshell cat to the cat fancier, or the bizarre 

 tulip to the florist. As regards colour, it is a triumph of art 

 over nature, by the means of skilful, careful selection, con- 

 tinued with unwearying patience. We get the same 

 combination of colour in the guinea-pig, both male and 

 female, and therefore this is in part a proof that by proper 

 mating, eventually a tortoiseshell male cat should soon be 

 by no means a rarity. There are rules, which, if strictly 

 followed under favourable conditions, ought to produce 

 certain properties, such properties that may be desired, 

 either by foolish (which generally it is) fashion, or the pro- 

 duction of absolute beauty of form, markings in colours, 

 or other brilliant effects, and which the true fanciers 

 endeavour to obtain. It is to this latter I shall address my 

 remarks, rather than to the reproduction of the curious, 

 the inelegant, or the deformed, such as an undesirable 

 number of toes, which are impediments to utility. 



In the first place, the fancier must thoroughly make up 

 his mind as to the variety of form, colour, association of 



H 



