392 THE CAT. [CHAP. xii. 



species must thenceforth be reckoned as one, and that one must 

 Lear the older of the two names previously in use. 



There is a probability of physiological specific distinctness 

 wherever there is an absence of transitional forms, for, if two kinds 

 readily interbred and produced fertile offspring, transitional forms 

 would, in most cases, soon abound. 



For our present purpose, then, the " kinds " of cats which we 

 have to consider are such kinds as we may reasonably, on morpho- 

 logical grounds, suppose to be " species " in the full sense of the 

 term, and therefore, where the differences are confessedly slight and 

 variable (as between different lions and different leopards), the 

 creatures which present them will be reckoned as forming one 

 species only. 



When, however, the evidence is very scanty and incomplete, it is 

 thought well that kinds should be distinguished provisionally by 

 distinct names, on the authority of different naturalists, for fear any 

 really important kind should get omitted from the list. 



3. In zoology (as also in botany) each " species " has a name 

 consisting of two words, which correspond with the Christian name 

 and the surname of a man, except that their order is different an 

 animal's surname coming before the other name. The first word or 

 term of an animal's name indicates to which " group " or " set " of 

 species the animal named belongs ; and as each t( group " or " set " 

 of species is called a " yenus," this first word is called its "generic " 

 name. The second word indicates to which kind or " species " of 

 the genus the named animal belongs, and so this second word is 

 therefore called its " specific " name. Thus the zoological name of 

 the wild cat consists of the two words, Felis catus. The first of these 

 is the generic name, and indicates that the wild cat belongs to the 

 group or " genus " FELIS. The second word is the specific name, 

 and shows that the wild cat is that kind of the genus " Felis " 

 which is distinguished as " CATUS." 



4. Following the order which is traditional, the Lion, with its 

 regal and national associations, may be taken first. 



(1.) THE LION (Felts leo)* 



This powerful and well-known cat is at once distinguished from 

 all others, by the familiar fact that the male possesses a " mane/' 

 that is to say, that the hair of the head, neck, and shoulders is 

 long. The hair also forms a tuft at the end of the tail, at the 

 extremity of which, surrounded by the long hair, is a small, pointed, 

 horny appendage.^ The rest of the body is mostly clothed with short 

 hair. The adult lion is of a yellowish- brown colour, without spots or 

 stripes, but the colour varies in intensity, and the long hair is often 

 blackish. The young are marked with little transverse dark bands 



* For a good figure of the skeleton, see De Blainville's Osteograpliie, Felis, plates 

 5 and 9. 



