30 MOSTLY MAMMALS 
the prevalent type of coloration in different groups, and 
I accordingly proceed to give a list of some more or less 
well-known mammals arranged according to the plan of 
their markings. 
1. Mammals with dark longitudinal stripes.—Striped mon- 
gooses (Galidictis) of Madagascar, in one of which the 
stripes are very narrow and close, while in the other they 
are broader and more widely separated; these animals 
belonging to the civet family. The three-striped palm- 
civet (Arctogale) ; the genet, the markings here tending to 
break up into spots ; the three-striped opossum ; the palm- 
squirrel, and chipmunks (Tamas). 
In all the above the stripes are dark upon a greyish 
ground, but in the following they take the form of black 
and white stripes, the white area being generally the 
larger ; and it may be noted that all belong to the weasel 
family. They include the skunks, the South African weasel 
(Poecilogale), and the Cape polecat (Ictonyx); while similar 
markings obtain on the head of the badger. 
2. Mammals with dark spots.—These may be divided 
into several sub-groups, according to the form of the 
spots. Those in which the spots are small, more or less 
nearly circular, and solid, include the hunting-leopard, the 
tiger-cat, serval, lynx, spotted hyaena, large-spotted civet 
(Viverra megaspila), the African linsang (Poiana), and the 
young of the puma. The blotched genet (Genetta tigrina) 
forms a transition to blotches. Some of the civets are 
more or less distinctly spotted, in others the coloration is 
intermediate between spots and longitudinal stripes. 
As species in which the spots are enlarged to form more 
or less quadrangular blotches, we may cite the common 
giraffe and those Oriental civets known as linsangs. 
By a splitting-up of a certain spot into a more or less 
