262 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



spread was given by the late Mr. J. G. Millais in 'The Times' of 26 

 October 1926. According to that article the wild cat reappeared in 

 Inverness-shire, from north of the Caledonian Canal, about 1912 

 and, after becoming established round Lochs Ericht and Laggan, 

 spread farther south into Perthshire, where one was killed at 

 Murthly, twelve miles from Perth, in 1925. 



"Mr. Kinnear further stated that owing to the increase of tree 

 planting the safety of the wild cat appeared to be assured, as it had 

 taken to the young plantations on account of the rabbits and, where 

 the plantations were under the charge of the Forestry Commission, 

 the cats were encouraged, as they helped to keep down the rabbits." 

 (Kinnear, 1934, p. 68.) 



"The War granted a respite to the Carnivora, and the Wild Cat, 

 which but for that event would probably have been exterminated by 

 now, increased in numbers. But now the persecution of this animal 

 and other carnivores is in full swing again; and apart from a slight 

 possibility of help coming from the third cause of change, dealt 

 with below [planting of thousands of acres in the Highlands with 

 conifers], it is probable that the Wild Cat will be brought to the 

 verge of extinction again before long." (Hinton, 1935, pp. 33-34.) 



Peloponnesian Wildcat 



FELLS SILVESTRIS MOREA Trouessart 



[Felis catus] morea Trouessart, Cat. Mamm., quinq. suppl., fasc. 1, p. 273, 

 1904. (Based upon the "Felis catus ferus L. var. e Morea" of Reichenbach, 

 Vollstandigste Naturgeschichte, Raubsaugethiere, p. 362, 1852, ex Bory 

 de Saint-Vincent, Exped. Sci. Moree, atlas, ser. 3, zool., pi. 1, A, 1833; 

 type locality, as restricted by Harper (1940, p. 194), "above Dragomanou, 

 near Mt. Diaphorti, west central Morea (Peloponnesus), Greece.") 



FIGS.: Bory de Saint-Vincent, Exped. Sci. Moree, atlas, ser. 3, zool., pi. 1, A, 

 1833; Reichenbach, Praktisch-gemeinniitzige Naturgeschichte, Kupfer- 

 sammlung, pt. 1, Raubsaugthiere, pi. 80, fig. 639, 1837(?). 



This form of southern Greece, while evidently less common than 

 formerly, does not seem to be threatened with extinction and is 

 included here chiefly for the purpose of rounding out the picture 

 of the European Wildcats. 



It differs from F. s. silvestris in its generally isabelline coloration, 

 in the absence of distinct stripes on the sides, and in having the 

 black rings on the tail straight and clearly defined; lateral stripes 

 replaced by irregular brownish-rufous marblings; feet unspotted 

 (Trouessart, 1910, p. 100). 



Bory de Saint-Vincent states (1836, vol. 1, p. 396) that among 

 the oak-dotted pastures of the type locality near Mount Diaphorti 

 the Wildcats occur in larger numbers than elsewhere. Here he 

 collected the type specimen from the high branches of an oak. 



