54 STUDIES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMALS 



( Viverra zibetha) in the Science and Art Museum of Edinburgh 

 has Leopard rosettes on its haunches, simple spots on its shoulders, 

 and marblings on its flanks ! and that the Spanish Lynx {Felis 

 pardina, Oken) has Leopard rosettes on its haunches, and simple 

 spots over the rest of its body. 



After having passed in review so many spotted and striped 

 mammals, we may perhaps be in a position to divide their 

 markings into — 



(«) Spots and groups of spots forming rosettes, or solid 

 blotches. 



{b) Stripes or bands of various breadth, either transverse, 

 diagonal, or longitudinal. 



{c) Marbled or clouded markings, like those of some Cats. 



{(T) Piebald markings, like those of Dogs, Cattle, Horses, etc. 

 And finally we have 



{e) Self-coloured animals, which present a total obliteration 

 of spotting and striping. These may be subdivided into pure 

 selfs, without a speck of any other colour; selfs with vestiges of 

 spotting ; selfs with ringed tails ; and selfs with points of other 

 colours, such as we see in Horses, Dogs, etc. The dun-coloured 

 Cat, with black points, is a very interesting variation. It is seen 

 in exhibitions. 



From the study of all the foregoing, I have come to the con- 

 clusion that each ancestral rosette, originally composed of a ring 

 of isolated spots, has in time undergone the following marked 

 modifications, some of which are found in the same animal, and 

 others in distinct individuals :— 



id) The isolated spots have fused into continuous rings, or 

 segments of rings, as in many Leopards. 



{b) The ring has contracted into a large spot, with obliteration 

 of the enclosed space, as in the Serval and others. 



