I90I A. R. WINNINGTON-INGRAM — CATS 307 



take to climbing trees, and because most cats are mottled 

 and striped after a fashion generally adopted by inhabitants 

 of woods. This sort of marking is very advantageous to 

 animals living among trees, where the light which shines 

 through the leaves, falls in spots and streaks on the ground 

 below. I remember reading an instance of protective mimi- 

 cry in cats which greatly interested me. Namely, that 

 when a tabby cat is curled up the dark bands on its coat 

 arrange themselves into concentric circles or spirals sug- 

 gestive of a coiled snake, which would be a protection 

 against eagles. Also that the hissing and spitting of an 

 enraged cat, and the display of its fangs, are another in- 

 stance of its imitating a snake. In both cases the hissing 

 is of the nature of an ultimatum. 



But cats not only protect themselves, they have been 

 deemed worthy of protection by men. Among the ancient 

 Egyptians the cat was not only protected but worshipped. 

 Many thousands of cats have been found embalmed in the 

 grottoes of Beni-Hassan-el-Aamar. The chief cat-shrine 

 was at Bubastis. To the Egyptians the cat was a smybol 

 of the moon, its eyes expanding and dilating in the pupil 

 hke as the moon waxes and wanes. The cat's ability to 

 see in the darkness — as generally imagined — sanctified it 

 as an emblem of chaotic night. A cat suckling its young 

 symbolized growth. 



In Britain, too, there was a Prince, who lived about the 

 year 950 A.D., named Howel the Good, who enacted a law 

 that whoever killed a cat which guarded his granary should 

 forfeit a milch ewe, with its fleece and lamb, or else as 

 much wheat as would cover the cat when it was suspended 

 by its tail, its head touching the floor. 



I fear, however, that in these days cats do not get quite 

 as much protection as they formerly did, for I remember 

 once recommending a man as a gamekeeper who, for the 

 first week in his new situation, had thirteen cats on his 



