50 STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



this spotting from some mammal allied to the Cheetah, or not, I do 

 not know. Canine and feline animals are rather closely allied. 

 Moreover, both the Cheetah and the Dog want the retractile claws 

 of the Cats proper. 1 



FIG. 31. Dalmatian Dog, from a photograph by C. R. , 54. 



Fig. 32 shows the Dog-spots fused into blotches not unlike the 

 consolidated rosettes on the abdomen of Leopards. In the Science 

 and Art Museum of Edinburgh there is a large Boarhound with 

 the Dalmatian spotting agglomerated into even larger blotches. 



1 Among Hyosnas there are species which are distinctly spotted, and others distinctly 

 striped ; although in Hyoenas the claws are well developed, they are non-retractile. 



