Permanence and Evolution. 31 



THE CAT. 



About the cat also there is little to be said. 

 There are a multitude of small wild felines with 

 which the tame cat will breed, and there are 

 tame cats sometimes said to be very closely 

 similar to them (in India it is said there are 

 some indistinguishable from F. torquata). In 

 different countries there are markedly different 

 breeds of cats, but in the same country we find 

 no well marked breeds, only "a considerable 

 amount of fluctuating variability ; " the explana- 

 tion is that indiscriminate crossing cannot easily 

 be prevented. Very true, if selection could have 

 been applied we should have had many distinct 

 breeds, i.e., if cats did not habitually cross, their 

 offspring would resemble the parents. In Para- 

 guay, according to Rengger (Saugethiere von 

 Paraguay, p. 42, et seq.), the cat, which has been 

 bred there for 300 years, presents a striking 

 difference from the European cat, which must 



