^74 Dr Morton on Hybrid Animals and Plants. 



the Chinese, the African,* and the English pig, and finds, 

 that while they agree in the number of cervical vertebrae (as 

 indeed 'all quadrupeds do), there is a remarkable difference iu 

 each of the other classes of these bones. We have not space 

 for details, except to observe tliat tl|^ dorsal vertebrae vary 

 from thirteen to fifteen, the lumbar from four to six, and the 

 caudal from thirteen to twenty. Now, as far as time and 

 circumstances had allowed the experiment to proceed, these 

 several animals bred freely with each other, and in the in- 

 stance of the Chinese pig, the offspring is unciuestionably 

 fruitful. 



Mr Eyton very justly remarks, that the above three pigs 

 must be considered as distinct species, or osteological cha- 

 racters can no longer be received as criteria of species ; and 

 Hamilton Smith has arrived at the conclusion, that there 

 were three, if not four, original species, endued with powers 

 of unlimited reproduction. 



Feline Hybrids. — These animals, at least the domestic 

 varieties, had long been regarded as of one species ; but mo- 

 dern researches have established that the blue or Chartreuse 

 cat, originally belonged to a distinct feline group ; the Bengal 

 cat of Pennant pertains to a second ; while the tortoise-shell 

 cat is believed to have sprung from a third group originally 

 indigenous to South Americat- I believe all these animals 

 produce with each other a fertile offspring. It may be de- 

 nied, however, that they belong to different species ; but that 

 the domestic cat was once of at least two species, seems now 

 decided by the observation of Dr Ruppell, who finds the em- 

 balmed cat of the Egyptians to correspond to the Fells ma- 

 niculataX of Nubia, and not to the Felis domestica. Where, 

 then, is the race of cats once so abundant in ancient Egypt \ 



* The Sus oBthiopicus has even been removed to a separate genus by Ouvier 

 — PhcucQchceres. {See P. ^Eliani in KuppeJ, Atlas zu der Eeise in Nord-Afrik^. 

 p. 61. 



t Hamilton Smith, Equidae, p. 339. 



J Atlas zu der Reise im Nordlichen Afrika, p. 4, tab. 1. Prof. Bell has also 

 decided that the Felis catus, found wild in the forests of tluropc, is different 

 from both the domestic species. 



