Much has been written as to the shape of the pupil of the Cat's eye. Some careful observations upon the matter have been
made by Dr. Lindsay Johnson,[[259]] who found that out of 180 Domestic Cats 111 had round pupils, and that in 19 the shape was a pointed oval, intermediate conditions being offered by the rest. These 180 comprised males and females of many varieties. When the pupil of the Cat's eye contracts, it forms a vertical slit with two pin holes, one at each end, through which alone light appears to enter. In the Genet and the Civet the contraction of the pupil is as in the Cat. In the Lion, Tiger—in fact apparently in all the large Cats—the pupil retains its circular shape even when contraction is fully effected. Dr. Johnson has, furthermore,[[260]] made some interesting experiments upon the Seal's eye—a creature which has, of course, to exert its powers of vision in two media, and from one to the other. This is effected by dilatation of the pupil when in the water, and its contraction to a vertical slit with parallel margins and rounded ends when in the air, the contraction being to some extent at least under the influence of the animal's will.
The coloration of these creatures is very varied: spots of black, or bordered with black upon a more or less tawny ground-colour, is the prevailing pattern. Stripes are also met with, as in the Tiger, but these are usually cross stripes,[[261]] while in the related Viverridae there are many examples of longitudinal stripes. Finally, many Cats, as for instance the Puma and the Eyra, are "self-coloured"—have, that is to say, a uniform tint. Just as the unstriped Horse sometimes shows traces of the former existence of stripes, so the self-coloured Cats are occasionally spotted when young; this is markedly so in the case of the Puma; while the Lion is spotted as a cub, and in the adult—particularly in the lioness—there are distinct indications of these spots. It is evident, therefore, that there are grounds for regarding a spotted condition to be antecedent, at least in some cases, to a uniform colour. There are divers explanations of these hues and of these changes. It is held by many that the coloration has a relation to the habits of the creature: the spotted Cats, it is pointed out, are largely arboreal; this is eminently so with the Jaguar at any rate; and in an arboreal
creature the spots, it is said, give the impression of flecks of sunlight broken up by foliage. On the other hand, the self-coloured Cats of a sandy to earthen hue assimilate in tint with a sandy or stony soil. The stripes of the Tiger, it is thought, approximate to the tall parallel stems of grasses and other plants in the dense cover in which it lives. In favour of these views is undoubtedly the fact that in other mammals and other animals belonging to quite different groups the same four plans of coloration are met with. Spots and cross stripes are found in the Marsupials; the young Tapir is spotted while the adult is self-coloured, and so forth. This last fact, however, serves to illustrate another view which has been put forward in explanation of these characteristic markings of the Felidae. Eimer has come to the conclusion that there is and has been a regular series of steps in the evolution of these markings. The primitive condition was, he thinks, a longitudinally striped one; the stripes then broke up into spots, and the spots rearranged themselves as transverse stripes; the self-coloured Puma and Lion are a final stage in this gradual evolution. In support of this is the fact that spots precede self-coloration in the individual growth of these animals. The exact sequence of these markings is, however, contradicted by Dr. Haacke's observations upon a certain Australian fish which is cross striped when young and longitudinally striped when adult, a precise reversal of what ought to occur on Eimer's view.
The Felidae are almost universally distributed with the exception, of course, of Australia and a good deal of the Australian region; the headquarters of the group are undoubtedly in the tropics of the Old World.
The characteristics of a few species of the Cat tribe will now be given. As there are at any rate forty-five species, this survey will have to be somewhat incomplete.
The Lion, F. leo, differs from all other species by the mane of the male. It is an inhabitant of Africa, India, and certain parts of Western Asia. Within the historic period it ranged into Europe. According to Sir Samuel Baker those of us who have not seen the Lion in his native haunts have never seen a really magnificent specimen of the brute; but other travellers disagree, and state that a captive Lion is often a finer animal—by reason, of course, of good feeding. Unlike the majority of Cats, the Lion
cannot climb. His roar (which is so suggestive, towards its end, of that animal who once dressed himself up in his skin) is literally after his prey. The Lion, it is stated, does not roar except upon a full stomach. The Lion is mainly nocturnal in its habits, and is said to be not in the least dangerous if unprovoked in the daytime; but here again opinions differ. The tail of the animal is provided at the extremity with a slight claw, but it can hardly be sufficient for the animal to lash itself into a fury with it. A Lion will live for thirty or forty years, and will breed freely in captivity. The Gardens of the Zoological Society of Dublin have been famed for their success in breeding Lions; but more surprising still, this has been successfully accomplished in travelling menageries. The "desert" colour of the Lion is familiar to all. It is stated that the likeness to the parched soil of certain parts of Africa is greatly heightened by black patches in the mane, for in certain regions of that continent the arid yellow of the general environment is diversified by pieces of black lava. It is apparently a popular delusion to speak of the Maneless Lion of Guzerat. No doubt maneless Lions do come from there, but so do young and maneless Lions from other places; in short, it is simply a question of age, and old Lions from the Asiatic continent are as fully maned as those from Africa.
The Tiger, F. tigris, is an animal of about the same size as the Lion, distinguished, of course, by the stripes. The skeletons are much like those of other Cats; but the skull of the Tiger may be distinguished from that of the Lion by the fact that the nasal bones reach back beyond the frontal processes of the maxillae. The Tiger is an exclusively Asiatic beast, ranging northward into icy Siberia. The northern individuals have a closer fur, and have been quite unnecessarily separated as a distinct variety. Nine feet six inches is the size of the average full-grown Tiger; but the skins will stretch, a fact of which the sportsman will sometimes take advantage. A "man-eater" is a Tiger which has discovered "that it is far easier to kill a native than to hunt for the scarce jungle game." As with the Lion, the accounts of travellers differ enormously, particularly with regard to the strength of the creature. Some have said that a Tiger can easily lift a full-grown bullock and leap with it in the mouth over a considerable obstacle, a statement which is ridiculed by Sir Samuel Baker. Unlike the Lion, the Tiger can climb trees;
it will also voluntarily enter the water, and can swim considerable rivers.