256 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Petit (1931, p. 588) records a female and its three young ones 

 captured in 1922 in the region of Tamatave, and two young ones 

 taken in the region of Fenerive on the east coast. 



The Mission Zoologique Franco-Anglo-Americaine of 1929-1931 

 secured 6 specimens of this species, as compared with 13 specimens 

 of Fossa jossa (Delacour, 1932, p. 220). 



Rand (1935, pp. 93-94) says: 



The fossa inhabits the rain forest of the east and the dryer forest of the 

 west at least as far south as Tabiky [inland from Cape St. Vincent], and was 

 well known to the natives. [Two were seen near Tsarakibany and Maromandia 

 during the daytime, though the natives said it was nocturnal.] This viverrid 

 was much disliked by the natives because of its raids on their fowls. Twice 

 I saw fossa skins in the possession of natives, but this was probably due to 

 European influence as the natives rarely use mammal skins for any purpose. 

 One large fossa was brought to me that had been run down with dogs and 

 speared. From the natives we heard no accounts of its attacking sheep or 

 young cattle and its reputation in literature for ferocity and the fear with 

 which it is regarded by the natives is exaggeration. My gun boy had a 

 particular antipathy for it because, he said, in his country near Vondrozo, 

 where the dead are walled up in caves, the fossa sometimes dug out the 

 corpses and fed on them. The natives universally called it "fossa." 



European Wildcat. Chat sauvage (Fr.). Wildkatze (Ger.). 

 Gato monies; Gato salvage (Sp.) Gatto selvatico (It.) 



FELIS SILVESTRIS SILVESTRIS Schreber 



Felis (Catus) silvestris Schreber, Saugthiere, vol. 3, p. 397, pis. 107A, 107 Aa, 

 1777. (Germany.) 



FIGS.: Gervais, Hist. Nat. Mammif., pt. 2, pi. 17, 1855; Blasius, 1857, p. 162, 

 fig. 101; Elliot, 1883, pi. 30; Royal Nat. Hist., vol. 1, pi. facing p. 422, 

 1893-94; Hamilton, 1896, frontisp.; Martin, 1910, pi. 27; Cabrera, 1914, 

 pi. 9, fig. 1; Zeitschr. f. Saugetierk., vol. 7, pi. 7, fig. 7, 1932; Colosi, 1933, 

 p. 55, fig.; Didier and Rode, 1935, p. 283, fig. 163; Schmidt, 1938, pi. 5. 



The typical European Wildcat shows a very general and marked 

 recession in France and central Europe, amounting to extirpation 

 in many parts of its former range. Apparently its chief remaining 

 stronghold is in the Balkan countries. 



More definite light is needed on the question as to whether inter- 

 breeding with feral Domestic Cats takes place at all or on a 

 sufficient scale to menace the Wildcat's survival as a pure-bred 

 species. Fatio states (1869, p. 276) that hybrids are sometimes 

 met with in Switzerland, and that he has examined a number of 

 specimens; the pelage, he adds, is often spotted with white. Ferrant 

 (1931, p. 62), in discussing the Wildcat in Luxembourg, says that it 

 mates frequently with feral Domestic Cats. Prof. M. Hirtz refers 

 (in litt., December, 1936) to hybrids in Yugoslavia, and the National 

 Council for Nature Protection does likewise (in litt., October, 1936) 

 in Poland. On the other hand, Pocock (1907, pp. 165-166) is rather 

 skeptical in regard to the alleged interbreeding. 



