CHAP. I.] 



INTRODUCTORY. 



In Pegu, Slam, and Burmah, there is a race of cats* the Malay 

 Cat with tails only of half the ordinary length, and often contorted 

 in a sort of knot, so that it cannot be straightened. f The true short- 

 tailed or tailless cat the Manx Cat has also the hind-legs relatively 

 long. Mr. J. J. Weir tells me he has seen one which had the fore- 

 legs so short as to be useless in walking, and the animal sat up like 

 a kangaroo. J 



Tailless cats are not, however, the only cats to be found in the 

 Isle of Man ; some cats there have tails ten inches long, a fact 

 probably due to the introduction of long-tailed cats from England, 

 Scotland, or Ireland. In cross-breeding the progeny seem generally 

 to resemble the father as to length of the tail.|| A tailless breed of 

 cats also exists in the Crimea. The Mombas Cat of the coast of 

 Africa is said to be ^ covered with short stiff hair instead of the 

 ordinary sort of hair. The Paraguay Cat ** is but a fourth of the 

 average size of our domestic cats, has a long body with short, shiny, 

 scanty hair, which lies close, especially on the tail. In South 

 America there is said to be also a race of cats which have ceased to 

 give forth cries like those by which our own cats are wont to give 

 expression to their emotional sensibility. It is to be wished that 

 this last breed should be introduced into this country. Yet the 

 breed would probably not persist, for the reason which seems to 

 limit the formation of new races; for the wandering nocturnal 

 habits of the species defeat most attempts at selection in breeding. 



That variations which might serve for the formation of new breeds 

 must be every now and then forthcoming, is indicated by such facts 

 as the following one, for a knowledge of which I am indebted to Mr. 

 John Birkett. 



A female cat had its tail so injured by the passage of a cart-wheel 

 over it, that her master judged it best to have her tail cut off near 

 the root. Since then she has had two litters of kittens, and in each 

 litter one or more of the kittens had stumps of tails, while their 

 brothers and sisters had tails of the usual length. Mr. Birkett 

 himself saw one of the stump-tailed kittens. It is of course pos- 

 sible that the mother had some trace of Manx blood in her, but it is 

 not likely, and the occurrence of the phenomenon just after, and 

 only after, the accident and amputation, seems to indicate that in 

 this perpetuation of an accidentally deformed condition, we have an 

 example of the origination of a new variety. 



* See J. Crawford's Descriptive Dic- 

 tionary of the Indian Islands, p. 255. 



t Its contortion is due to deformity of 

 the bones of the tail. 



Jin the Museum of the Royal. College 

 of Surgeons there is preserved the skele- 

 ton of a cat, formerly belonging to the 

 late Mr. Doubleday, the entomologist. 

 This cat was born without any fore- 

 limbs, yet could jump so well as to be 

 able to jump up on a table. All the 



bones of the fore-limb are entirely want- 

 ing, save the shoulder-blades. 



Mr. Bartlett assures me he has 

 measured cats' tails in the island, and 

 found all lengths up to ten inches. 



|| See Mr. Orton's Physiology of Breed- 

 ing, 1855, p. 9. 



*!) See Captain Owen's Narrative of 

 Voyages, vol. ii. p. 180. 



** See Reugger's Saugethiere van Para- 

 guay, 1830, p, 212. 



