428 CARNIVORES 
now well known, white cats with blue eyes are usually deaf, this deafness being 
probably attributable to the lack of dark pigment characterising the eyes also 
extending to the ears; such dark pigment being, in some mysterious manner, 
connected with the sense of hearing. 
The pure-bred tortoiseshell cat—a race which, by the way, seems now 
much more rare in England than formerly—should be of an orange-fawn colour, 
irregularly blotched with black, without any admixture of white. Such cats are 
almost invariably females, although, according to Professor Mivart, there is at least 
one good instance of a pure “ tortoiseshell tom.” The male of this breed is the 
sandy cat, and the writer above mentioned comments upon the extreme peculiarity 
in this difference of the coloration in the two sexes of this breed, the males and 
THE ANGORA CAT (# nat. size). 
females of all wild cats, with the single exception of the South American jaguarondi 
(in which the female is the brighter of the two), being coloured alike. Occasionally, 
however, female sandy cats are to be met with, while sandy-and-white and tortoise- 
shell-and-white cats may be of either sex. The so-called “blue” or Carthusian cat 
is characterised by its long and silky-hair being of a~miform greyish-blue colour, 
while the soles of the feet and the lips are black. 
Turning to Asiatic cats, it has already been mentioned that many of those of 
India have more or less distinctly spotted coats like their wild compatriots, such 
coloration being almost unknown in Europe. The most celebrated of all the Asiatic 
breeds is the Persian, or Angora cat, its second title being derived from a town in 
Asia Minor. These cats are characterised by their large size, their long silky hair, 
—most developed on the throat and under-parts,—and the thick bushy tail. The 
colour is generally uniform, varying from pure white to a yellowish or greyish 
