200 Scientific Intelligence— Zoology/, 



name of the Angora Cat {F. Angorensis)^ has been produced from 

 another wild type, yet unknown, and inhabiting the northern regions 

 of Asia.*'* 



Now, it is this Angora cat which resembles so closely the Persian 

 and Chartreuse cats, that there is little or no difference between 

 them, except that of colour : and, since the interbreed with the com- 

 mon cat, we are able to explain much of the variety observable in 

 the cats of Europe and Asia. 



Milne Edwards and the learned editors of the new Faune Fran- 

 g(nise still insist on the identity of the wild-cat of Europe and the 

 domestic animal ; and should this view of the case ever be substan- 

 tiated, we shall have to admit at least three wild species for the source 

 of our familiar variety, — Felis angorensis^ F. catus, and F. mani- 

 culata. But the difficulty does not end here : M. Blainvillo states, 

 that, among the numerous series of cat mummies brought from Egypt 

 by the French commission, he has identified not only the F. mani" 

 culata, but also the F. chaus and the F. bubastis, — all indigenous 

 African species, and all reduced, in ancient times, to the domesti- 

 cated state. And I was the more gratified at this discovery, because 

 I had already observed, in the Chevalier Bunsen's Hieroglyphic Al- 

 phabet, three different cats, each possessing a different symbolic value, 

 I do not pretend to have any evidence of hybrid crosses between 

 these animals ; but these and other facts shew us that we may yet 

 have to modify some of our zoological impressions from a study of the 

 catacombs and monuments of Egypt.f — Dr Morton. 



20. Description of a new Species of Filaria. By Joseph Leidy. 

 — 1. Filaria Hominis arts. — Body white, opaque, linear, thread- 

 like ; mouth round, simple ; posterior extremity obtuse, furnished 

 with a short, curved, epidermal booklet l-500th inch in length by 

 l-2000th inch in diameter at base. Length 5 inches 7 lines ; 

 greatest breadth l-66th inch; breadth at mouth l-250th inch ; at 

 posterior extremity l-80th inch. 



Remarks. — The description is taken from a single specimen pre- 

 served in alcohol, in the collection of the Academy, labelled, *' ob- 

 tained from the mouth of a child." 



Is it a young individual, or perhaps a male of the Filaria medin- 

 ensis, or Guinea worm ? The latter, as is well known, infests the 

 human body, often growing to an enormous length, several yards or 

 more, in the intertropics of Asia and Africa. It is frequently brought 

 in the body of negro slaves from Africa to America, where no ento- 



* Mammalogie, T. p. 78. 



t The Felis chaus is now spread from Nubia and Egypt to India, thus ex- 

 tending itself into Asia, as the F. maniculata has in Europe. " It is possihle." 

 observes Schinz, " that the domestic cat has had several origins, because it gives 

 rise to several constant varieties." — Synopsis Mammalium, i., p. 453. Nor 

 have I a doubt that this will be the established result of further investigation. 

 — Morton. 



