This is an excerpt from:
Collie Concept
by George Bobbee Roos
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S- SABLE. Dominant over tricolor. Shadings may run from straw through red to dark mahogany.

PS- Pure Sable. Usually a clear shade of straw of orange red with dark maskings or fringes. These individuals carry no tricolor gene and can produce only sable color regardlePS of what color is combines with them. (Charts I, II, III, X, XIV, XVI, XIX)

^tS- Trifactored Sable. Sable Collies carrying the tricolor gene in conjunction with the dominant sable gene. Usually (but not always) a dark orange to a very dark mahogany in color with dark masking and fringes. (Charts II, III, IV, V, IX)

tri- TRICOLOR. RecePSive to sable. Black Collies with white and tan markings on sides of muzzle, above the eyes, sides of cheeks, chest and inner margins of legs. (Charts II, ,IV VI, VII, XI, XII, XV, XVII)

M- MERLE. A dominant dilution gene which in combination with sable or tri genes produces merled collies.

BM - Blue Merle. Bluish gray with black splotching, carrying sable markings in the same patriern as the tricolor. Color results from the interaction of the dominant dilution gene (M) with the tricolor gene (t). (Charts, VII, VIII, IX, X, XVIII)

SM - Sable Merle. Sable spotted tri Collies. Color results from the interaction of the dominant dilution gene (M) on the sable color. At birth, all sable merles exhibit a bluish tinge on tail and muzzle which disappears in a few weeks. Brownish merling on body or head mayor may not remain at maturity, and thus these individuals, if they have dark eyes can be mistaken for a "normal" sable. However, many sable merles inherit blue or blue flecked eyes, a sure sign of a merle.

PSM- Pure Sable Merle. Usually a light or even "washed out" sable at birth with brown merling.  At maturity, quite often these Collies lose their merling and coat color becomes a clearer red. No tricolor gene is present in their makeup. (Chart XV)

^tSM- Trifactored Sable Merle.  Usually a darker sable color than the PSM with dark brown merling which quite frequently is still visible at maturity. The tricolor gene is present in conjunction with the sable and merle gene. Charts XIII, XIV)

w- WHITE. These collies are the result of a cross between either two white parents or white factored parents. Color is carried on a recessive gene (w) and is inherited INDEPENDENTLY of sable, tri or blue merle and may occur in combination with ANY of them. A blue headed white is just as sound and normal a Collie as the tri or sable headed white. These are not to be confused with the white merle whose "white" color results from the double dominant dilution merle gene, whereas the white color of a blue headed white results from the recessive gene (ww) and its blue color from the normal interaction of the merle gene with tricolor. (Charts XVI, XVIII)

W^f- White factored. Colored dogs usually with large white frill, heavy white tail tip, possibly a body splash of white hairs and white extending upward from hind feet over stifle to meet the white underbody. (Charts XVII, XVIII)

non- Non white factored. Regular colored Collies NOT carrying the recessive white factor. (Chart XIX)

WM- White Merle resulting from the combination of two merled parents. These Collies inherit the dominant dilution gene (M) from both parents. Thus, color is diminished almost to the vanishing point by the gene in duplex. They are almost white in appearance and may or may not have a few merling spots. Eyes, IF present, are pale blue; skin, including the eyelids, lips, nose. and pads are pigmentless except within an area of merling; hearing and sight severely impaired. These are commonly destroyed at birth. (Ed. note. since this treatise was prepared in 1969 it has been learned that the white merles are not necessarily defective and many have sight and hearing. This information is expanded in continuation of chapter by the author.) If a white merle is raised to maturity and is from a BM to BM cross, it can be bred to a tricolor and will produce 100% blue merles. (Charts VIII, XI) This is not true of white merles carrying the PS genes or the ^tS genes when bred to a tri.