m KKUD.K 



fact* strongly favour the opinion that f. mnn/m/.i/a u the type of 

 our Domestic Cat. M. Temminck concur* in opinion with M. Ruppell 

 that thii Nubian specie* U the tock from which it sprang. Sir 

 William Jardine, in hi* able 'Natural History of the Kelimc' 

 (' Naturalist*' Library,' Mammalia', vol. ii , small 8vo, Elinb<irgh and 

 London, 1834), state* that the opinion generally accepted before this 

 by mo*t naturalist* was, that the Wild Cat of Europe was the original 

 stock : but, he add*, that although, since the introduction of our 

 House Cat to this country, there may hare been an accidental croiw 

 with the wild natire specie*, an attentive examination of the greater 

 numbers will at once show a very different form from that exhibited 

 by the Wild Cat ; the most prominent distinctions being the shortness 

 of the legs, and shortness and thickness of the tail in the latter. 

 " The domestic cat," continues this author, " is the only one of this 

 race which has been generally used in the economy of man. Some of 

 the other small specie* have shown that they might be applied to 

 similar purposes ; and we hare seen that the general disposition of 

 this family will not prevent their training. Much pains would have 

 Wen necessary to effect this, and none of the European nations were 

 likely to have attempted it The scarcity of cats in Europe, in its 

 earlier age*, is also well known ; and in the 10th and llth centuries 

 a good mouser brought a high price. Although, however, our opinion 

 coincides with that of the above-mentioned authorities, and wi> think 

 that we are indebted to the superstition of the ancient Egyptians for 

 having domesticated the species described by Riippell, we have no 

 doubt that since its introduction to this country, and more particularly 

 to the north of Scotland, there ha* been occasional crossing with our 

 own native specie*, and that the result* of these crosses have been 

 kept in our houses. We have seen many cat* very closely resembling 

 the wild cat, and one or two that were very tame, which could 

 scarcely bo distinguished from it. There is perhaps no animal that so 

 soon loses its cultivation, and returns apparently to a state completely 

 wild. A trifling neglect of proper feeding or attention will often cause 

 them to depend upon their own resources ; and the tasting of some 

 wild and living food, will tempt them to seek it again, and to leave 

 their civilised home. They then prowl about in the name manner as 

 their congeners, crouching among cover, and carefully concealing 

 themselves from all publicity. They breed in the woods or thickets, 

 and support themselves upon birds or young animals. Few extensive 

 rabbit-warrens want two or three depredators of this kind, where 

 they commit great havoc, particularly among the young in summer. 

 They sleep and repose in the holes, and are often taken in the snares 

 et for their prey. I once came upon a cat which had thus left her 

 home : she had newly kittened in the ridge of an uncut corn-field. 

 Upon approaching she showed every disposition to defend her progeny, 

 and beside her lay dead two half-grown leveret*." 



Before we quit this part of the subject we must not forget that 

 among the animals seen by Ruppell in Kordofan, he discovered a new 

 small species of Cat 



Mr. Hell ('History of British Quadrupeds,' Lond. 8vo., 1827), first 

 addresses himself to the question whether the common wild cat is 

 the original from which all our domestic cat* have sprung, according 

 to the general opinion of the older naturalist*. He state* that there 

 are many reasons for believing that this opinion is entirely erroneous. 

 In the first place, he observe*, the general conformation of the two 

 animals is considerably different, especially in the length and form of 

 the tail, which in the wild cat is strong, robust, and at least as large 

 towards the extremity as at the base and middle, whilst that of the 

 domestic cat tapers toward* the apex. The fur too of the former, he 

 remarks, is thicker and longer ; and although tho colours are some- 

 what like those which occur in some individual* of the ordinary 

 specie*, there are, even in this respect, distinctions which can scarcely 

 be considered otherwise than a* essentially specific ; UK f,,r instance, the 

 termination of the tail in a black tuft, which invariably marks the 

 wild cat To these distinctions may be added the difference of 

 length of the intestinal canal ; though domestication might account 

 for much of that 



But to return to Mr. Bell. With regard to the alleged crossing 

 between the wild and the domestic breeds, " it is not without much 

 reflection on the matter" that he has " come to the conclusion that this 

 opinion of their intermixture, repeated and transmitted from one to 

 another till it ha* become an uncontented dogma, is erroneous, and 

 ha* it* foundation in mirtaken fact*," Mr. Bell then notices RiipHl 1 .. 

 Petit manicvlata above described, and come* to the conclusion that 

 " this species, to which the high authority of Kiip|H-ll ha* assigned 

 the origin of our house cat, is still farther removed from it in 

 essential zoological characters than even the British wild cat, to 

 which it had been previously so generally referred ; and that, a* in 

 the COM of so many of our domesticated animals, we have yet to 

 seek for the true original of this uwful, gentle, and elegant 

 animal." 



We must confess that we do not see much difficulty in coinciding 

 with the opinion of Ruppell, Tcmminck, and Sir William Jardine 

 upon the evidence at prevent known. It is not attempted to be 

 denied that the Egyptians bad a domestic cat, and we think that 

 there CM be little doubt that the Domestic Cat of the Egyptians was 

 identical with P. *,at>ic*lata. ThU extraordinary people, whose 

 I i* now only to be traced in their wonderful and enduring 



FKLID.C. 7M 



monument*, were, when in their high and palmy itate, the centra of 

 civilisation, and we can Bee no reason why other nation*, who borrowed 

 so largely from them, should not have also received their domestic 

 cat among other benefit* of civilisation. This animal, when intro- 

 duced, would be liable to all the usual consequence* of domestication 

 and of intermixture, according to the localities of the various nations 

 who obtained it We can *ee no reason why the domestic cat, from 

 whatever source derived, should not breed with the wild cat in Great 

 Britain, and we believe that it has so bred. 



The argument* derived from the difference between the tails of the 

 Wild Cat, of the Domestic Cat, and of P. manioilaia, do not *eom to us 

 to carry much weight We cannot shut our eyes to the effect of 

 domestication on this organ among the Dogs, which give* u* every 

 variety, from the well-clothed tail of the Newfoundland dog, setter, 

 and spaniel, to that of the greyhound, which is so scantily furnished 

 as to owe one of it* excellencies to being ' tailed like a rat ; ' nay, in 

 some varieties, that long tail i* reduced to almont no tail at all. 

 There are also tailless cat*, as Mr. Bell himself notices. 



Still the doubt thrown on the question by a zoologist of so much 

 experience and skill as Mr. Bell is deserving of the most serious con- 

 sideration, and should stimulate those who have the opportunity to 

 investigate tho subject upon every occasion offered to them. 



The Domestic Cat is Le Chat of the French ; Gatto of the Italian* ; 

 Gato of the Spanish and Portuguese ; Katze of the Germans ; Cyperse 

 Kat and Huyskat of the Dutch ; Katta of the Swedes ; Kat of the 

 Dane* ; Cath and Gwr Cath of the Welsh ; and Petit domctlica, teu 

 Catut of Ray. It is worthy of remark that all these names are the 

 same as the Latin Catut, whence the diminutive* Catulut and 

 Catellui ; and this is somewhat in favour of all northern and western 

 Europe having received the Cat through Roman civilisation. We are 

 thus brought nearer to Egypt, its probable origin. The Greek word 

 ' aluros ' (of \ovpos) is an odd one, and helps us nothing, being appa- 

 rently a descriptive term. There seems to be a word in Sanscrit for 

 cat, leading to the supposition that amongst the early Indo-Germanic 

 races the cat was not domestii 



The varieties of the Common Cat, as in all cases of domestication, 

 are endless : among the most noted are the Tabby, the Tortoiseshell, 

 the Chartreux, which is bluish, and the Angora Cat with its long 

 silky hair. The Domestic Cat is but too famous for it* attainments in 

 the art of ingeniously tormenting, and it is difficult to gay what end 

 is answered by the prolonged agonies of fear and torture which the 

 poor mouse is made to undergo before it receives the coup de grace. 

 This refined cruelty appear* to be confined to mice, young rats, and 

 small quadrupeds : if a cat strikes down a bird she does not trifle 

 with it, but, conscious of its chances of escape, bite* off its head or 

 wounds it mortally at once. 



We insert the following from Pennant, though it has been often 

 quoted, not only as illustrating the manners of a period so distant as 

 that of Howel, who died in the year 948, after a reign of 33 years 

 over South Wale* and of 8 years over all Wales, but also on account 

 of the reflection at the cud, which we think worthy the consideration 

 of those who are interested in inquiring whence the stock of the 

 Domestic Cat was derived. " Our ancestors," says Pennant, " seem 

 to have had a high sense of the utility of this animal. That excellent 

 prince Howel Dda, or Howel the Good, did not think it beneath him, 

 among his laws relating to the prices, ic., of animals (' Leges Walliie,' 

 p. 247, 248) to include that of the cat, and to describe the qualities it 

 ought to have. The price of a killing before it could see was to be 

 a penny ; till it caught a mouse, twopence. It was required besides 

 that it should be perfect in it* senses of hearing and feeing, be a good 

 mouser, have the claws whole, and be a good nurse ; but if it failed 

 in any of these qualities the seller was to forfeit to tho buyer the 

 third port of its value. If any one stole or killed tho cat that guarded 

 the prince's granary he was to forfeit a milch ewe, it* fleece, nnd 

 lamb ; or an much wheat as when poured on the cat suspended by Us 

 tail (the head touching the floor) would form a heap high enough to 

 cover the tip of the former. This last quotation is not only curious, 

 a* being an evidence of the simplicity of ancient manners, but it 

 almost proves to a demonstration that cats are not aborigines of these 

 Island*, or known to the earliest inhabitants. The large prices set on 

 them (if we consider the high value of specie at that time) and the 

 great care taken of tho improvement and breed of an nnimal that 

 multiplies so fast, are almost certain proofs of their being little known 

 at that period." (' British Zoology.' ) 



Pelit Catut of Linmvus, the Wild Cat, is Le Clint Sauvage of the 

 French ; Gato Montis of the Spaniards ; \ViM.- Kat/r and Itaumritter 

 of the Germans; Vild Kat of the Danes; Cath Goed of tin- \V, 1,1, ; 

 Calm tylrettrit of Klein ; and Petit tylratica of Mern-tt. 



Head triangular, strongly marked ; ears rather large, long, trian- 

 gular, and pointed. Body strong, rather more robust than that of the 

 Domestic Cat Tail of equal size throughout it* length, or rather 

 larger towards the extremity. Fur soft, long, and thick; colour of 

 the face yellowish-gray, with a band of block spot* towards the 

 muzzle ; whiskers yellowish-white ; forehead brown ; head gray, 

 marked with two black stripes pasting from the eyes over and behind 

 the ear*; bock, side*, and limb* gray, darker on the bock, paler on 

 the sides ; with a blackish longitudinal stripe along the middle of the 

 back, and numerous paler curved ones on the sides, which arc darker 



