THE WILD CAT OF SCOTLAND 75 



and arrant poachers, to be placed in the same category as 

 the polecat and the stoat, and very far removed from the 

 original native cat. 



At the present time, after so many hundred years of the 

 interbreeding of the t\vo races, it is very difficult to determine 

 the difference between these feral cats and the Felis catns 

 as it existed in mediaeval times. As far as my observations 

 go, the chief distinctions are the form of the skull, and the 

 general colour and markings of the fur. 



1. In the true Wild Cat of earlier days, the skull is long 

 and narrow. The frontal bones are narrow, depressed, and 

 concave in the centre. The cranium is compressed and 

 elongated. The occipital ridge is jagged and thick. The 

 sagittal ridge, extending sometimes as far as the coronal suture, 

 generally about half way. All the bones of the skull are thick 

 and firmly welded together. The basal length is from 85 

 to 90 mm., and the breadth over parietals is 44 to 47 mm. 

 See Fig. No. i. 



In the feral or Wild Cat of the present day in Scotland, 

 the skull is short and broad, the cranium round and bulging. 

 The frontal bones are broad, convex, or flat. The occipital 

 ridge is thin and less jagged. The sagittal ridge is short or 

 altogether absent. The bones of the skull are comparatively 

 thin and less firm than in the true Wild Cat. The basal 

 length is 78 to 84 mm., and the breadth over parietals 47 

 to 53 mm. See Fig. No. 2. 



In the skull of the African cat (F. uianiculata], Fig. 4, 

 the frontal bones and cranium approximate to the same 

 parts in Fig. i, while the same parts in the skull of the 

 domestic cat, Fig. 3, come nearer to those bones in Fig. 2. 



2. Although very little reliance can be placed on the 

 distinctions of external appearance and colour, all the earlier 

 writers on the subject (Gesner excepted) state that the colour 

 of the fur of the Wild Cat is of a uniform gray brown. But 

 the examination of a number of examples of the reputed 

 Wild Cat of Scotland, both in the flesh and set up, as also 

 of the dry skins, shows that a large portion have patches of 

 white fur, more or less, on the throat, chest, and anterior 

 part of the abdomen. The chin and muzzle are also white. 

 This white colour, I have every reason to believe, is the re- 



