240 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



ings different In the two sexes. We can only 

 guess at what these circumstances may have 

 been, for at present no wild members of the 

 cat tribe exist which exhibit like peculiarities. 

 Possibly, however, the ancestors of the domestic 

 tortoise-shell and her sandy spouse were creatures 

 living in some desert region where such colours 

 would be advantageous for concealment ; and if 

 the male roamed abroad among the sand while 

 the female lived chiefly in the scrub or amid 

 the rocks surrounding their den, their respective 

 markings would each prove useful. 



Although the wild progenitors of our modern 

 cats seem to have acquired their general system 

 of coloration in order to harmonise with their 

 surroundings, there are, as I have already hinted, 

 some further and very curious questions raised 

 by a closer study of the arrangement of the 

 markings upon certain familiar types. For, 

 taken in conjunction with certain other traits 

 which will be discussed later, it seems possible 

 that we have in the peculiar pattern of the dark 

 bands upon a true tabby a remarkable instance of 

 that "protective mimicry" which is so common 

 among insects and other lowly organised crea- 



