150 Francis B. Sumner 
matic conditions. Here, not only the hair, but other features, 
were affected. 
So far as the present writer is aware, however, no such differences 
as have formed the principal theme of this paper have been pre- 
viously brought about by direct experiment or even produced under 
such circumstances as would warrant one in stating positively that 
they were the immediate results of external conditions. Lydek- 
ker, in the work already referred to, cites a case on the authority of 
“an American newspaper”’ (so notoriously infallible in matters 
scientific!) which would certainly be important if true. It is 
worthy of mention only because the modifications alleged accord 
so well, in some respects, with those which have been demonstrated 
for mice. In order to combat the rats in a cold-storage ware- 
house at Pittsburgh—so the story runs—cats were introduced. 
The first of these died. “One cat was finally introduced 
which was able to withstand 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 carfeul nursing, a 
brood of seven kittens was developed in the warehouse into 
sturdy thick-furred cats that loved an Icelandic climate. They 
have been distributed among the other cold-storage warehouses 
of Pittsburgh, and have created a peculiar breed of cats, adapted 
to the conditions under which they must exist to find their prey. 
These cats are short-tailed [italics mine], 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 develop- 
ment of their ‘feelers.’ . . . . In the cold warehouses the 
feelers grow to a length of five and six inches. This is probably 
because the light is dim in these places, and all movements must 
be the result of the feeling sense.” 
I am informed by Dr. A. E. Ortmann, who has kindly taken 
the trouble to make some inquiries regarding this story, that he 
can find no foundation for it whatever. ‘Those who had heard of 
it at all did not take it seriously. Moreover, as Dr. Ortmann 
points out, it seems quite unlikely that cats could be forced to live 
in a cold-storage warehouse unless caged. It has, nevertheless, 
seemed worth while to cite this account, owing to the prominence 
given to it by Lydekker. 
