THE CEYLON LEECH. SOURCE OF THE DOMESTIC CAT. 165 



as to infer, from the flight of these animals, that they are 

 always pursued by the bonito." — Bishop Heber's Journal of 

 a Voyage to India. 



THE CEYLON LEECH. 



Dr. Davy, in his account of Ceylon, gives a full description 

 of this troublesome and occasionally dangerous little animal. 

 He describes it as varying in its dimensions ; the smallest 

 being exceedingly minute, and the largest seldom more than 

 half an inch long. 



He says, " This leech is a very active animal : it moves with 

 considerable rapidity, and it is said occasionally to spring. Its 

 powers of contraction and extension are very great : when fully 

 extended it is like a fine cord ; and its point is so sharp, that 

 it readily makes its way through very small openings. It is 

 supposed to have an acute sense of smelling ; for no sooner 

 does a person stop where leeches abound, than they appear 

 to crowd eagerly to the spot from all quarters. 



* c Those who have had no experience of these animals, of 

 their immense numbers in their favourite haunts, of their ac- 

 tivity, keen appetite, and love of blood, can have no idea of 

 the kind and extent of annoyance they are to travellers in the 

 interior, of which they may be truly said to be the plague. In 

 rainy weather it is almost shocking to see the legs of men on 

 a long march, thickly beset with them, gorged with blood, and 

 the blood trickling down in streams. It might be supposed 

 that there would be little difficulty in keeping them off : this 

 is a very mistaken notion ; for they crowd to the attack, and 

 fasten on quicker than they can be removed. I do not exag- 

 gerate when I say that I have occasionally seen at least fifty 

 on a person at a time. Their bites are much more troublesome 

 than could be imagined, being very apt to fester and become 

 sores ; and, in persons of a bad habit of body, to degenerate 

 into extensive ulcers, that in too many instances have occa- 

 sioned the loss of limb, and even of life." 



ON THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF THE DOMESTIC CAT. 



[TranslatedfromTemminck's 'MonographiesdeMammalogie,' vol. i. p. 76.] 

 "While speaking of the Domestic Cat, — which is met with in 

 every part of the globe where man, in different states of civili- 

 zation, has been collected into societies, and has become ac- 

 customed to the use of fixed habitations, — we may naturally 

 consider the question of the origin of its domestication, and 

 endeavour to ascertain the original or typical species to which 

 the different races of it owe their existence. Many very ju- 



