SPOTTED AND STRIPED MAMMALS 13 



under surfaces of most of them are paler than the back and flanks, 

 and in some cases wholly white. 



Elliot's monograph of the Felidce contains gradations, modifi- 

 cations, and transformations of rosettes and spots, which can be 

 studied with comfort within the compass of a book. It is like a 

 museum of Cats. 



To facilitate the examination and comparison of Leopard and 

 Jaguar rosettes, and to show both flanks at one glance, I have 

 given in Figs. 4-7 some skins spread out ; and Fig. 59 gives a 

 number of variations of single rosettes taken from numerous 

 Leopard skins. 



It will be seen that on the Jaguar skin there is a large number 

 of rosettes consisting of an irregular or polygonal ring of small 

 spots enclosing a space, in the middle of which, as I said, there are 

 one or more specks. At times the ring-spots are dissociated, as on 

 the shoulder, and they appear like an irregular group ; at other 

 times the ring-spots coalesce wholly or partially, and form a more 

 or less continuous polygonal ring, as in those of Fig. 7, with or 

 without the central specks. The rosettes of what are commonly 

 called Leopards are usually without the enclosed specks. 



This continuous ring can best be seen on the Leopard skin of 

 Fig. 7, already alluded to. 



Again, we see that on the abdominal surface the rosettes tend 

 to coalesce further, with obliteration of the enclosed space, and, in 

 the Jaguar, to form a sort of trefoil, quadrifoil, pentafoil, etc. 



I would here note that on the tails of these Leopards the 

 rosettes, at first isolated, tend to coalesce and form transverse rings 

 towards the tips, with obliteration of the enclosed space ; and that 

 along the spine the rosettes tend to coalesce longitudinally, and to 

 form a continuous dorsal line or band. 



All variations of Leopard rosettes would seem to be modifica- 



