COLOUR AND MARKINGS IN THE DOMESTIC CAT. 357 
is very singular; instead of the yellow and black forming the 
two tints for the ground colour and stripes respectively (which 
arrangement would be very beautiful if it could be produced), the 
pattern, whichever it may happen to be, is most distinctly seen 
in the sandy or yellow parts, which are of the same two shades 
as in ordinary sandy cats—viz., buff and dull orange, interrupted 
here and there by white. Whether the pattern of the black is a 
continuation of, and corresponds with, that of the sandy parts, 
I have never been able to determine; for in many specimens the 
colours are so mixed up, and disposed in such small blotches, 
that it is a difficult matter to decide this point. I think it 
probable, however, that there is but one pattern throughout. 
Since hybrids have undoubtedly been produced with theW ild 
Cat in a state of captivity (see Zool. 1873, p.3575), is it not within 
the bounds of possibility that even in a wild state such a thing 
may occasionally have happened, when the Wild Cat was com- 
paratively common, and thus have given rise to the tiger-striped 
race? But even then it seems strange that, after countless 
generations, these two distinct types should continue to be per- 
petuated, especially as there has never been any attempt worth 
mentioning at selection as to colour and markings, but all have 
been allowed to mix indiscriminately, with scarcely any restraint. 
In Mr. Harvie Brown’s interesting account of the rarer animals 
of Scotland, it is deplorable to read of the gradual extinction of 
the Wild Cat and the Marten, and their continued persecution by 
gamekeepers; but as he states that the large deer-forests in the 
North afford a refuge to a few, and that at least one large landed 
proprietor affords them protection (would there were more), it may 
be hoped that the time when this interesting animal can only be 
considered as a thing of the past is not yet quite at hand. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE I. 
Fig. 1. Tiger-striped Tabby, or Pattern 1. 
Figs. 2&3. Ring-Tabby, or Pattern 2. 
