DOMESTIC CATS. I 59 



must largely have affected the domesticated breeds of widely 

 different climates. 



From the account referred to, it appears that in the cold- 

 storage warehouses of Pittsburg there were originally no Cats 

 or Rats. The temperature in the cold rooms was too low. 

 The keepers soon found, however, that the Rat is an animal 

 of remarkable adaptability. After some of these houses had 

 been in operation for a few months, the attendants found that 

 Rats were at work in the rooms where the temperature was 

 constantly kept below the freezing-point. They were found 

 to be clothed in wonderfully long and thick fur, even their 

 tapering, snake-like tails being covered by a thick growth of 

 hair. Rats whose coats have adapted themselves to the con- 

 ditions under which they live, have thus become domesticated 

 in the storage warehouses in Pittsburg. The prevalence of Rats 

 in these places led to the introduction of Cats. Now, it is well 

 known that Pussy is a lover of warmth and comfort. Cats, too, 

 have a great adaptability to conditions. When Cats were turned 

 loose in the cold rooms they pined and died because of the 

 excessive cold. One Cat was finally introduced into the rooms 

 of the Pennsylvania Storage Company which was able to with- 

 stand the low temperature. She was a Cat of unusually thick 

 fur, and she thrived and grew fat in quarters where the 

 temperature was below 30 . By careful nursing, a brood of 

 seven kittens was developed in the warehouse into sturdy, 

 thick-furred Cats that love an Icelandic climate. They have 

 been distributed among the other cold-storage warehouses of 

 Pittsburg, and have created a peculiar breed of Cats, adapted 

 to the conditions under which they must exist to find their 

 prey. The^e Cats are short-tailed, chubby pussies, with hair 

 as thick and full of under-fur as the Wild Cats of the Canadian 

 woods. One of the remarkable things about them is the 

 development of their "feelers." Those long stiff hairs that 



