38 WILD NEIGHBORS CHtab. 
animals, so that their color is of no great conse- 
quence, since the wisdom of the ages declares that 
“all cats are gray in the dark.” The truth seems 
to be that there is a very forcible inherited ten- 
dency to spottedness in this family and its imme- 
diate allies, as the civets. In most members this 
persists in a remarkable degree, with interesting 
variations of pattern; while a minority have nearly 
outgrown it, and a few have lost the markings 
altogether, though even these, it should be noted, 
are born with spotted hides. There seems no reason 
to suppose that natural selection has had anything 
traceable to do with the origin of these markings, 
and but little to do with their modification or dis- 
appearance. 
As to the size of the puma, one reads of speci- 
mens ten or eleven feet long; but no satisfactory 
evidence exists of a length greater than eight feet, 
measured from tip of nose to tip of tail, and the 
average will fall below seven feet. The jaguar 
has a longer and heavier body, but its tail is far 
shorter. Proportions vary somewhat, those from 
the tropics being a trifle larger than specimens 
taken in cool latitudes, following the law that an 
animal will reach its greatest size where the con- 
ditions are most favorable to its kind as a whole. 
The comparative fulness of the skull forward 
gives to the head a rounded solidity not usual in 
cats, and bears out the creature’s reputation for 
craft. This gives to the face, also, an expression 
