CHAPTER XII. 



DIFFERENT KINDS OF CATS. 



1. IN the first chapter of this work the principal varieties of 

 the domestic cat were shortly described, together with its probable 

 ancestors, the Egyptian cat and the common wild cat. But our 

 knowledge of the cat would evidently be very incomplete if no 

 acquaintance were made with the various animals most closely 

 related to it, which now exist or have existed, and which may 

 fairly be reckoned as " different kinds of cats." 



In fact, cats of all kinds agree so closely in structure, and differ 

 so decidedly, in that respect, from animals that are not cats, that 

 they are universally admitted to form what is called a "very 

 natural group " that is to say, a group of animals easily charac- 

 terized, and containing no members which differ strikingly from the 

 other members of the group. 



But though it is very easy to say whether an animal is a cat, it 

 is often exceedingly difficult to determine what kind of cat it is. 

 The lion, the tiger, the leopard, the puma, and the cheetah, and 

 various other kinds of cats, are very well-marked forms. No one 

 can mistake any of these animals one from another, but there are 

 a great many smaller cats which are in a very different case. Many 

 of them vary much in colour (and somewhat in shape and more in 

 size) from individual to individual. Certain kinds have received 

 from different naturalists more than one name, and it is often a 

 task of much difficulty to find out which is the proper name which 

 any given kind ought to bear. 



To do this perfectly, it is necessary to examine the very individual 

 skins which were originally described by the authors of the several 

 names which skins are the " types " of the various kinds or 

 " species." When (as is very often the case) this is impossible, it 

 is needful to critically examine the original descriptions, bearing in 

 mind any collateral circumstances which may throw light upon the 

 question as to which kind any particular author must have had in 

 view when he wrote the original description. The investigation of 

 this complex tangle of zoological literature is called the study of 

 Synonymy, and it is often a study exceedingly difficult, on account 

 of the too frequently very imperfect descriptions given by the 



