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including several species of monkeys, the badger, fox, ferret, weasel, 
stoat, hedgehog, wild cat, Australian native cat, squirrel, pied hare, 
pied rat, water rat, seal, and porpoise, also skeletons of porpoise, mole, 
and guinea pig. Of these, several had been presented by the Earl of 
Chichester, Mr. Brazenor, and other gentlemen ; but for the greater 
number they were indebted to their Vice-President, Sir Cordy Burrows, 
either personally, or through his exertions among his friends, and his 
influence with the Directors of the Aquarium, who had ever been 
anxious to help the Museum in every possible way. Fine specimens 
of the great ant-eater, antelope, and lynx, and the skeleton of a 
monkey were nearly ready for the cases, and he had the promise of a 
fallow deer from West Sussex, and of the first otter which could be 
speared by the Master of the Otter Hounds of one of the northern 
counties. By going on in this way, they not only secured the typical 
specimens which they required, but what the public wanted still more, 
namely, a tolerably extended collection. He should confine himself to 
a few words respecting the wild cat, the Australian native cat, and the 
monkeys last added. 
When he promised Mr. Wonfor to say something about the Wild 
Cat he thought nothing would be easier, but on looking into Zoological 
works, he found that either very little was said or that the authors were 
very far from agreeing. Thus, Baron Cuvier, whilst he devoted five 
volumes to the class Mammalia, dismissed the wild cat in seven lines ; 
and Professor Nicholson was still more curt, and, as far as our island was 
concerned, his only remark reminded one of the celebrated chapter on 
snakes in Iceland—all that he told us was, “ The wild cat formerly 
existed in Britain, but was now extinct.” Of course, if this were so, 
there would be an end of the matter, and of our Sussex specimen 
along with it. But this, he thought, was a fair subject for discussion, 
for, whilst it was admitted to be rare, especially in the south of 
England, and that there were many cats which had escaped from a 
domestic life and run wild in the woods, there were differences which 
could be relied upon, and he should not very readily abandon the claim 
of their specimen to be a genuine Sussex wild cat. 
First, as to the tail. It was admitted that the tail of the 
domestic or escaped cat could easily be distinguished from that 
of the wild cat. The former was long, slender, and tapering, whilst 
the latter was much shorter and more bushy, and it was proved 
that escaped cats leading a life in the woods transmitted their 
—— 
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