10 



cat of Europe, there seems to be a probability that the domestic 

 cat is the product of many species. 



Since writing the above I have devoted some attention to the 

 probable origin of Felis domcstica, and am now inclined to agree 

 with Dr. D. G. Elliot in the belief expressed in his monograph of 

 the Felidae that F. manicidata and F. caligata are practically 

 identical with F. caffra. It is well to keep in mind the fact that 

 many closely allied forms which have been described as species or 

 races may have no real basis in nature, except as they have 

 emanated from the gropings of the human intellect. Probably all 

 the members of this group of closely related African cats described 

 under different names are identical with or were derived from F. 

 caffra. According to Elliot, this widely distributed form seems 

 to vary in color from dull yellowish to dark gray. It shows 

 markings somewhat similar to the common tabby, but less numer- 

 ous, and has a blackish phase also. Its variations in color include 

 practically all those of the domestic cat, except such as are the 

 product of domestication. Its appearance is much like that of 

 the domestic cat, except that it seems somewhat slimmer than the 

 usual form of the household pet. Anatomically it is much the 

 same, if we allow for the changes produced by domestication. 

 The sparse markings of this species may not account for the 

 numerous ones of the domestic tabby, but these may have been 

 produced centuries ago in Europe by many crossings with the 

 well-marked wildcat F. catvs when wildcats were numerous there 

 and the domestic cat had not become common. 



The cat certainly was domesticated in Egypt at least thirteen 

 hundred years before Christ. One of the earliest representations 

 of the cat with man is a statue of King Hana, probably of the 

 eleventh dynasty, with his cat Bouhaki between his feet. Refer- 

 ences to the animal, found on monuments, appear in written 

 rituals of the eighteenth dynasty, about 1500 B.C. Hieroglyphic 

 inscriptions which go back to 1684 B.C., and some probably as 

 far back as 2400 B.C., mention the cat. The earliest known 

 pictorial representation of puss as a domestic pet is shown on a 

 tablet of the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty (about 1500 to 

 1638 B.C.) now at Leyden, where she is represented seated 

 under a chair. 



HISTORY. 



The Cat in Egypt. 



A full history of the cat in domestication would make an ab- 

 sorbing tale. In Egypt she sat in the seats of the mighty. She 

 was dedicated to woman and to Isis or the moon, and possibly 



