312 M. Bureau on the Ancient History of 



of the animal, and which, like that which in French expresses its 

 plaintive cry, is a true onomatopeia. 



Having determined the native country, or at least the habi- 

 tation of the cat, I shall pursue the history of its manners and 

 habits, and bring together the various traits which form the 

 true portrait of the species. The circumstances of the copula- 

 tion of cats, the number of their young, the duration of their 

 life, and their pursuing birds, related by Aristotle, along with 

 the name 'A<A»u§fl< *, positively designate the same animal of 

 which Herodotus has painted the manners, and to which he has 

 applied the same name. 



In the first place, however, 1 shall give the etymology of the 

 different names of the cat. That of "Aj^awga? is founded upon 

 one of the most striking habits of the animal, which is continu- 

 ally moving and bending its tail. I would derive it from 

 <weAA« and »g«. The cat was, therefore, with the Greeks the 

 move-tail. 



According to Saumaise -f-, the name utxn^oq comes from the 



are of them yellow, black, white and spotted. It has the body of the 

 fox and the face of the tiger, the hair soft, and the claws sharp. The best 

 are those which have the tail long, the reins short, the eyes like gold or silver, 

 and many hairs above the eyes. Its pupil may serve to mark time ; it is like 

 a thread at 11 in the evening, 11 in the morning, and 5 in the morning; like 

 a jujubier nut at 1 in the morning, 1 afternoon, 7 in the morning, and 7 in 

 the evening ; and like the full moon at 3 in the morning, at 1, 9 and 8 in the 

 evening. The tip of its nose is always cold, excepting on the day of the 

 summer solstice, when it becomes lukewarm. This animal fears cold and 

 seeks heat ; it feeds according to the months, and eats rats in the first and 

 last decade of each lunation. Its head and tail resemble those of the tiger. 

 The duration of its gestation is two months, and at one birth it produces se- 

 veral young ; but some cats eat their young. There are persons who think 

 that the female can conceive of herself, by the rubbing of a bamboo brush on 

 the back, &c.— Japanese Encyclopedia, xxxviii. 1 9. 



Mention is made of the cat in the Choue-wen, a dictionary of the period of 

 our era. 



In the Li.Ki, one of the five Kings, which Confucius revised in the six- 

 teenth century, before our era. 



In the Eul-ya, a dictionary the antiquity of which some authors carry back 

 to the twelfth century before Christ, but of which the authenticity is con- 

 tested. 



In the Chi-king, a collection of odes made by Confucius, but of which the 

 different parts are much more ancient than that philosopher. 



• Hist. Anim. v. 2, vi. 20, 35, and ix. 6. f Pliny, Exercil. 710, B. 



