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It is beyond the scope of this paper to enter into the 

 details of the various uses of the dog, the Chinese have, as is 

 well known, even a breed of edible dogs, stated to recognize 

 butchers as their enemies. 



The attachment of the dog to the person of his master 

 is far stronger than that of any other animal. 



The Dog is the perfect type of a domestic animal, it 

 fulfils all the conditions of domesticity in the highest 

 degree and with regard to its food is commensal with man. 



The Cat fulfils all the conditions of domesticity, 

 though in its tameness and attachment to persons it falls 

 short of the dog, but it even exceeds the dog in its attach- 

 ment to locality, and by its great usefulness in destroying 

 small vermin, beyond the reach of a dog's powers, it supple- 

 ments the usefulness of that animal. 



Like the dog it is not quite certain from which wild 

 feline the cat was first obtained, but probably a North 

 African species, perhaps Felts caligulata or F manicnlata, but 

 I feel convinced that the original of the domestic cat 

 permanently tenanted the same cleft in the rock, hence its 

 attachment to locality, and that this quality was availed of 

 by the ancient Egyptians, by whom the cat was domesticated 

 some thousands of years ago. 



I have had unusual advantages in examining cats, 

 having judged them for so many years at the Crystal 

 Palace and otherwise, and have no hesitation in saying that 

 they are mostly mules or hybrids. 



Our British cats are without doubt in most cases the 

 result of a cross with the wild cat of these islands, this is a 

 wood haunting animal, Felis sylvestris, the cross has pro- 

 duced the tabby cat, a coloration not found in some Indian 

 varieties, the Cabul and Siamese cats I have seen show no 

 trace of stripes. 



In no species of wild cat is the colour of the sexes 

 different, yet it is quite inexplicable that out of the 

 thousands of cats I have examined one tortoiseshell male 

 only have I seen, and the female sandy cats are almost as 



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