DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 325 



wild species of dog-like animal, but in several. These wild 

 ancestors of the dog are certain wolves and jackals of various 

 lands. Dogs are probably descended from at least seven such 

 wild species, namely, the jackal, Canis atireus, of western Asia, 

 the landga, Canis pallipes, of India, the jackal wolf, Canis 

 antlius, of northeast Africa, the walgie, Canis niger, of Thibet, 

 and the coyote, Canis latrans, and dun-gray wolf, Canis occl- 

 dentalis, of North America. 



The house cats, on the contrary, as various and as widely 

 distributed as they are, seem to be all descended from a single 

 wild species. This is the dun wild-cat, Fells maniculata, of 

 northeast Africa. All of the present races of house cats trace 

 their lineage back to Egypt. That the Egyptians were much 

 given to the possession and care of cats the numerous cat 

 mummies of their graves show. Cats were a sacred animal 

 for them under the special protection of the goddess Bast, a 

 goddess introduced into Egypt by Semitic influence. The 

 fanciers now recognize about thirty established races of cats. 

 They are grouped in two main classes, namely, long-haired 

 cats and short-haired cats, and in both groups appear certain 

 repeated colors as white, cream, gray, silver, yellow, black, 

 smoke "blue," brown, orange, "red," etc. The pattern may 

 be solid color or banded (tabby) or spotted (tortoise-shell) in 

 different colors. There is a Mexican hairless cat (just as there 

 is a Mexican hairless dog). The so-called Manx cats are 

 always tailless, but very short-tailed or even tailless individuals 

 occur occasionally in several other races, at least among the 

 short-haired kinds. 



The horses of modern times can be traced back to two wild 

 ancestors, namely, Equus przewalski, of northern Asia, from 

 which all the Oriental, Mongolian, Arabian, North African 

 and East European races have sprung; and Equus caballus 

 fossilis, or the diluvial horse, of Europe, from which the Ger- 

 man, Norman, English and West European horses generally 

 have risen. In America fossil horses have been found back 

 through a series of geologic ages as far as the beginning of the 

 Tertiary Age forming a connected series from the small 

 Eohippus of the lower Eocene period, about the size of a fox, 



