2 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY 



The Domestic Cat, the European Wild Cat, the Ocelot, 

 the Leopard, the Tiger, and the Lion are animals which 

 agree with one another in the general features of their 

 organisation in the number and form of their bones and 

 teeth, in the possession of retractile claws, and in the 

 position and characters of their internal organs. No one 

 can fail to see that these animals, in spite of differences of 

 size, colour, markings, &c., are all, in the broad sense of the 

 word, " Cats." This is expressed in the language of systematic 

 Zoology by saying that they are so many species of a single 

 genus. 



According to the system of binomial nomenclature intro- 

 duced by Linnaeus, each kind of animal receives two names 

 One the generic name, common to all species of the 

 genus ; the other the specific name, peculiar to the species in 

 question. Both generic and specific names are Latin in 

 form, and are commonly Latin or Greek in origin, although 

 frequently modern names of persons or places, with 

 Latinised terminations, are employed. In giving the name 

 of an animal, the generic name is always placed first, and is 

 written with a capital letter, the specific name following it, 

 and being written, as a rule, with a small letter. For 

 instance, to take the examples already referred to, the 

 domestic cat is called Felis domestica, the European Wild 

 Cat F. catus, the Leopard F. pardus, the Tiger F. tigris, the 

 Lion F. leo. Thus the systematic name of an animal is 

 something more than a mere appellation, since it indicates 

 the affinity of the species with other members of the same 

 genus : to name an animal is, in fact, to classify it. 



It is a matter of common observation that no two 

 individuals of a species are ever exactly alike : two tabby 

 Cats, for instance, however, they may resemble one another 

 in the general characters of their colour and markings, 



