io6 Tlu Book of Cats. 



man could tell what a scene London would present 

 in the height of the season. Everybody would be 

 shooting at his neighbour's Cat. There would be 

 the stoker of the Railway Rifles potting at the 

 funnels of the North Western, and we should have 

 the Finsbury Filibusters fluking over Cripplegate. 

 He trusted, however, that before that time a stop 

 would be put to the Volunteer movement," etc., etc. 



Cats do certainly seem to enjoy themselves on 

 moonlight nights, anyhow they make noise enough. 

 The Cat w^as believed by the ancients to stand in 

 some relation to the moon, for Plutarch says that 

 the Cat was the symbol of the moon on account of 

 her different colours, her busy ways at night, and 

 her giving birth to twenty-eight young ones during 

 the course of her life, which is exactly the number 

 of the phases of the moon. 



The ancients identified Bubastis with the Greek 

 Artemis (or Diana), and each was regarded as the 

 Goddess of the moon. Bubastis was generally re- 

 presented as a woman with a Cat's head. 



It might occur to some, that " Puss " is derived 

 from the Egyptian name, Pasht ; but perhaps it is 

 better to acquiesce in the derivation from the Latin, 

 Pusus (a little boy), or Pusa (a little girl). By others 

 this term is thought to be a corruption of Pers. 



