SPOTS AND STRIPES IN MAMMALS 



SUCH of my readers as have considered the subject at 

 all may be aware that in those animals whose fur is 

 ornamented with dark or light markings, these markings 

 generally take the form either of longitudinal or transverse 

 bands, or of spots ; the latter being frequently arranged in 

 more or less distinctly defined longitudinal lines, but never 

 in transverse bands. Moreover, these markings, especially 

 in the case of stripes and bands, are generally most de- 

 veloped on the upper surface of the body, although spots 

 may be equally present on both the upper and the lower 

 surfaces of the body. Many mammals, again, whether they 

 be spotted or whether they be striped, have their tails 

 marked by dark rings on a light ground ; but this feature 

 is also present in others in which the colour of the body 

 is of a uniform tint. It must not, however, be supposed 

 that there is any sharply defined distinction between spotted 

 and striped mammals, many of the civets, as well as some 

 of the cats, having markings intermediate between true 

 spots and stripes. Spots, again, are somewhat variable in 

 configuration, some animals, like the hunting-leopard, having 

 solid circular dark spots, while in others, such as the 

 leopard and jaguar, they assume the form of dark rings 

 enclosing a light centre. In other cases, as in the giraffe, 

 the spots are enlarged so as to form large and more or 

 less quadrangular blotches. 



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