SPOTTED AND STRIPED MAMMALS 55 



(V) The rosettes, sometimes many of them, have fused either into 

 large bands or patches, as in the Ocelot and marbled Cat. 



(d) The consolidated spots, after arranging themselves into 

 rows, either transversely, diagonally, or longitudinally, have fused 

 themselves further into stripes, as in the Tiger, the c Tabby Cat,' 

 the Pampas Cat, and certain Civets. 



(e) The rings on the tail have followed the same course of 

 modification ; the consolidated spots have fused into rings, or the 

 rosettes have fused into twin rings, as in the Margay ; these, in 

 some descendants, have then amalgamated into broad bands. 



(/) Finally, the resetting, spotting, or striping has been entirely 

 obliterated from the adults of certain species, such as the Lion, 

 the Puma, the Caracal, jet-black and albino Cats, and others, while 

 in the young of some the spotting remains distinct. 1 The rusty- 

 spotted Cat 'is quite peculiar among spotted Cats in having the 

 tail without either spots or rings ;' while in some mammals, as in the 

 Racoon and the cunning Bassaris, the only vestiges of ancestral 

 spotting or striping are the * rings on the tail.' 



1 Young Lion cubs are usually spotted ; but Mr. Edward Griffith, in The Animal 

 Kingdom of Baron Cuvier, vol. ii. p. 447, gives two Lion-Tiger cubs, three months old, 

 striped like Tigers. 



