156 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
more populated districts of the Cape Colony, it is still abun- 
dant in the interior. As if@ habits appear to be generally 
similar to those of the common Wild Cat, they require no 
detailed notice. 
This Cat was tamed by the ancient Egyptians, and vast . 
numbers of its remains embalmed and preserved. Although 
some writers hold a different view, the black sole of the foot 
suggests that the Caffre Cat is the chief stock from which the 
Domestic Cats of Europe have been derived; but in different 
countries there has been more or less subsequent crossing 
with the various indigenous species. On this subject more 
will be said under the heading of Domestic Cats. 
It is noteworthy that the fossilised remains of the Caffre 
Cat have been obtained from the cavern-deposits of the rock 
of Gibraltar, in company with those of various kinds of ex- 
tinct Mammals, and it may be inferred that at the time when 
these creatures flourished, Spain was still connected by land 
with Africa. 
XXX. DOMESTIC CATS... FELIS DOMESTICA, 
Felis domestica, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. vol. 1. p. 80 (1788). 
Felis torquata, F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. Mamm. pl. 54 (1826); 
Blanford, Mamm. Brit. India, p. 85 (1888). 
Felis megalotis, Muller, Verh. Nat. Gesch. Zool. pp. 29, 54 
(1839-44); Sclater, Cat. Mamm. Ind. Mus. pl. u. p. 233 
(1891). 
Felis huttont, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. xv. p. 69 
(1846). 
Although Domestic Cats are commonly spoken of as con- 
stituting a “species,” yet this term must be used in quite a 
distinct sense from that in which it is employed when speak- 
ing of the wild members of the Family. For instance, if all 
the breeds of Domestic Cats were descended from the Caffre 
