Pr Morton on Hybrid Animals and Flants, 275 



They have probably come down to us so blended with qther 

 species that their identity is lost. 



De Azara states, thf^t in the forests of Paraguay the Felis 

 yaguaruiidi and the Felis eyra, both unite with the domestic 

 cat ; and he adds, that should these wild species become in 

 time extirpated, and the mixed breed alone remain, the latter 

 would be very naturally referred with all its varieties, to a 

 single original species.* 



Mixed breeds have also been obtained between the black 

 leopard and the African species, and between the lion and 

 the tigress. The latter cross which is much the more re- 

 markable, produced three cubs, which were doing well at the 

 time the facts were published. t We regret that no further 

 particulars have come under our notice. 



Feline and Musteline Hybrid. — A most remarkable instance 

 of hybridity between the cat and an animal of a totally dis- 

 tinct genus, is described in the following account, which is 

 published in several of the best scientific periodicals, and ap- 

 pears to be well authenticated. " A domestic cat disappeared 

 from a house in Penza. After being absent some time, she 

 returned ; and within the regular time, produced four young 

 ones, two of which strongly resembled the marten. Their 

 claws were not retractile, as in the cat ; and the snout was 

 elongated, like that of the pine marten, {Mustela martes.) 

 The two others of the same litter more nearly resembled the 

 cat ; as they had retractile claws and round heads. Ail of 

 them had the black feet, tail and ears of the marten ; and 

 they killed birds and small animals more for the pleasure of 

 destroying them than for food. The proprietor endeavoured 

 to multiply this race, and to prevent their intermixing with 

 the domestic cats, in which he proved highly successful. In 

 the space of a few years he reared more than a hundred of 

 these animals. A specimen presented to the Imperial So- 

 ciety of Natural History of Moscow, was of the third or fourth 

 generation, and it retained all the characters of the first." J 



* Quadrupeds of Paraguay, i., p. 174. 



t Vide Griffith's Cuvier, ii., p. 448. 1827. 



♦ Loudon's Mag. of Natural History, ix., p. 616 j Griffith's CuTier, ii,, p. 489^ 



