SPOTTED AND STRIPED MAMMALS n 



I can only give a small number of Cats in this superb mono- 

 graph, to show the principal variations from the typical rosettes 

 of the Jaguar. 



In Elliot's Jaguar (Felis onca\ which presumably was copied 

 from nature, there are on the .flanks very distinct rosettes, made 

 up of polygonal rings of black spots, more or less fused, and 

 enclosing a space which is differently coloured from the inter- 

 rosette ground ; and each rosette has a distinct black speck in the 

 centre of the enclosed space. 



Then his Margay (F. tigrind] is of a Leopard-yellow colour, 

 resetted in various ways, the rosettes being made up of three, four, 

 and five black spots, which enclose a brown space. It is, more- 

 over, distinctly barred on the shoulder and back. (See another 

 variant on p. 418 of Roy. Nat. Hist., vol. i.) 



Fontanier's Spotted Cat (F. tristis] is something like a Jaguar, 

 but its rosettes are distorted in various ways. 



From this we pass to his African Golden Cat (F. chrysostrix], 

 which is either grey or brown trimmed with Leopard-yellow. Its 

 spots are solid. 



The Serval (F. serval} is much the same ; only, in addition, it 

 has fusions of spots into longitudinal streaks. 1 



The Rubiginous Cat (F. rubiginosd] is of a brownish-grey, 

 with solid black spots arranged in longitudinal rozvs, preparatory 

 to fusing in longitudinal stripes, like those on the back of the neck. 



We come then to the Pampas Cat (F. pajeros}. It has brown 

 longitudinal bands on grey ground, in the manner of the Ocelots, 

 and the legs are transversely banded. (See variant of this on 

 p. 431, Roy. Nat. Hist.) 



The Clouded Tiger is very interesting (F. diardi]. It has a 



1 The Serval is also subject to melanoid variations, and the spots are distinctly visible 

 when viewed in certain lights. (Roy. Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 414.) 



