4 THE CAT 



of vision under either extreme. Add to all 

 these that the coloring of cats is highly assim- 

 ilated, as it is termed, or suited to concealment 

 among the various shades of ground and fo- 

 liage among which it lives as, for instance, 

 the tiger, buffy yellow, with vertical bars of 

 black, is said to blend perfectly with the up- 

 right yellow bamboo stems which stand out 

 against the gloomy interspaces of tropical jun- 

 gles ; and the leopard and jaguar, of a similar 

 yellow, with dark spots and rosettes, living 

 largely in trees, are not readily perceived 

 among the mottling of light and shade result- 

 ing from the maze of leaves, boughs, and wan- 

 dering rays of sunlight ; while the cats of one 

 color, like the lion and puma, are of neutral 

 shades of gray or yellow, harmonizing well 

 with earth tints on open plains, and inconspic- 

 uous under any surroundings. It is thus seen 

 that, with all mammals in the field, none prob- 

 ably is so well armed for the battle of life as is 

 the cat. 



This general type of structure is common to 

 all cats, such variations as there are, being only 

 in minor characteristics, but slightly related to 



