SPOTTED AND STRIPED MAMMALS 41 



I have seen a Leopard skin with crowded rosettes, several of 

 which were fused into one oblong ocellus, as shown in Fig. 15, ^. 



This fusion will afford some idea of how the parallel twin 

 stripes of the Tiger skin of Fig. 24 may have originated. Fig. 26 

 gives a diagrammatic sketch of some spindle-shaped ocelli I saw 

 on a Tiger skin. 



A row of Leopard rosettes, as shown in Fig. 20, d, may easily 

 be transformed into a pair of twin and parallel transverse stripes. 



Fig. 26. — Spindle-shaped ocelli on a Tiger skin; a — t represents the spinal line. 



We have already seen that similar twin bands do actually 

 occur in the Ocelots from rosettes disposed longitudinally. 



The reader should especially note that in the figure of the 

 living Cheetah the spots on the tail have gradually coalesced, and 

 formed continuous rings towards the tip. These ringed tails occur 

 whether the animal be spotted or striped, and in the figure of the 

 living Tiger the rings on the tail are double, indicating their origin 

 from rosettes ; and indeed in Fig. 24 almost all the stripes on the 

 body are double. This may be considered conclusive evidence 

 that the stripes of all Tigers, however modified they may be. 



