THE CAT 9 



long quick leaps and bounds rather than by stealthy 

 stalking through the woods which we know is the 

 habit o£ our cats. It seems to me easier to see the 

 form of the English wild cat in our cats than it is 

 to trace the form of the Egyptian cat, but this may 

 be due to interbreeding with the wild cat and to 

 the effect of the changed surroundings. 



The familiar name Puss is said to be derived from 

 " Bast/^ the name of the Egyptian cat goddess. She 

 is represented as a cat with pointed ears. With 

 Bast, the cat goddess, is sometimes confused Sekliet, 

 the lioness goddess, who may be distinguished by 

 her rounded ears. Both were associated with night, 

 but Bast presided over the fashions, and fashionable 

 women worshipped her. The pots for eye paints 

 were often made in the shape of a cat. There is 

 some correspondence between Bast and Aphrodite. 

 Sekhet was associated with the moon. She typified 

 lieat and flaaie and was the goddess of war. 



Tame cats it is said were brought from Egypt to 

 Greece and Rome and thence to Britain. In the 

 middle ages they were so much prized and so scarce 

 that they received special State protection. 



I have chosen the cat as a familiar type of back- 

 boned flesh-eating animals, which feed their young 

 on milk, in other words, because it is a flesh-eating 

 mammal easily accessible to everyone for study. 



To the big group of mammals belong all the most 

 important animals, including man, who differs from 

 the rest mainly by his capacity to keep his body 

 erect. Cats and their relations are flesh-eating 

 mammals. Seals and walruses, whales and porpoises 



