TABBY GATS 65 



preserved in Siam. But there appears to be not a 

 particle of evidence that either Persian or Siamese 

 Cats have been derived from species differing from 

 those to which our own EngHsh Cats owe their 

 origin. As for so-called " Manx " Cats, there is no 

 doubt whatever that they are tailless varieties of 

 the same type or types. No other pattern than the 

 Striped or Blotched Tabby is found amongst them. 

 When and where the breed arose is quite unknown. 

 Some of those who believe in the specific distinction 

 of this Cat claim Cornwall as its home ; others the 

 Isle of Man. Probably both suggestions are as 

 little supported by evidence as the tradition that 

 " Tortoise-shell " Cats came originally from Spain. 

 What, then, was the origin of our domestic Cats ? 

 This has been a question much debated by zoologists ; 

 but it cannot be admitted that the debaters had any 

 intimate acquaintance either with domestic breeds 

 or with the two wild species from which they sought 

 to derive them. No author, for instance, except 

 perhaps Blyth, realised that there were two widely 

 different types of pattern in domestic Cats to be 

 accounted for ; or perceived that neither of the 

 wild species claimed as the agriotype resembled even 

 remotely the blotched tabby in markings. And 

 none apparently was aware that these two wild 

 species are closely related forms, differing probably 

 less from one another than Chinese differ from west 

 African leopards and hardly more than Mongolian 

 differ from Sumatran tigers. 



