_Points_.--1. _Size_: As big as possible, but not leggy; reasonably plump for the show-bench, but _very_ graceful in all their motions; with stoutish short forelegs, and plenty of spring in the hindquarters. 2. _Head_: The best black-and-white Toms have large, well-rounded heads, with moderately long ears, and a well-pleased, self-contented expression of face. The whiskers are usually white, but black is not objectionable. The eyes are preferred green, and sparkling like emeralds of the finest water. 3. _Colour and markings_: The colour is black-and-white, with as much of the former, and as little of the latter as you can find. I like to see the nose and cheeks vandyked with white, the chin black, white fore-paws, white hind legs and belly, and a white chest. This is all that is needed for beauty's sake; but, at all events, the markings must be even. 4. _Pelage_: Fur should be longish (and I don't object to its being ticked all over the back with longer white hairs), silky, and glossy. Points of the Black-and-White Cat. Size, 10. Head, 5. Colour and markings, 25. Pelage, 10. Total, 50. The next cat on the boards is the white cat. It is very remarkable--and most students of feline nature must have had an opportunity of observing this--the great difference in the temperament, constitution, and nature of cats, which colour alone, apparently, has the power of truly indicating; and this is nowhere more easily seen than in the peculiar characteristics of the pure black pussy and the all-white one. The black cat, on the one hand, is bold, and free, and fierce; the white, far from brave, more fond of petting and society, and as gentle as a little white mouse. The black cat is full of life and daring; the white of a much quieter and more loving disposition. The black cat stands but little "cuddling;" the white would like to be always nursed. It takes but little pains to teach a black cat to be perfectly cleanly, but much more to train a pure white one. In constitution the black cat is much more hardy and lasting, the white cat being often delicate, and longing apparently for a sunnier clime. A black cat is often afflicted with _kleptomania_, while a properly-educated white puss is as honest as the day is long. The senses of the black cat are nearly always in a state of perfection, while the white is often deaf, and at times a little blind. Again there is nothing demoniacal about a white cat, as there often is about a black one. I remember, when a little boy at the grammar school of Aberdeen, receiving a box from the country containing lots of good things, and marked, "A Present from Muffle"--Muffle was a pet tabby of mine--and, childlike, replying in verse, the last lines of the "poem" being-- "And when at last Death's withering arms Shall throw his mantle thee around, May angel catties carry thee To the happy hunting-ground."