718 



CASTNIA-CAT. 



India. It is very high flavoured, and so fragrant as 

 to perfume the air a considerable way around it. The 

 plant has been cultivated in Britain with the view of 

 producing fruit, but the attempt has scarcely as yet 

 been crowned with success. The unripe fruit is 

 pickled in the milk of the cocoa nut, after it has 

 become sour, along with salt, capsicum, and garlic, 

 and in this state it is brought to Europe. It is also 

 eaten preserved in sugar. From the juice of the fruit 

 a kind of wine is prepared, and the kernels, when 

 reduced to powder, form an excellent flour, used in 

 the preparation of bread. There are as many varie- 

 ties of Mango as there are of apples and pears. 



Comocladia, integrifolia is a handsome tree, which 

 produces a deep red edible fruit. Comocladia dentata 

 is said to be injurious to those who sleep under its 

 shade. 



The Chilian genus, Duvana, resembles the myrtle 

 tribe. 



CASTALIA (Lamarck). A genus of molluscs, 

 thus described by Lamarck. The shell equivalve, 

 inequilateral, sub-triangular ; apices eroded, and 

 curved towards the posterior side ; hinge with two 

 lamellar teeth, transversely striated, one of them 

 posterior, distant, shortened, and sub-trilamellar, the 

 other anterior, lengthened and lateral ; ligament ex- 

 terior ; the substance of the shell is thick and pearly ; 

 the valves with longitudinal flat ribs, transversely 

 striated, but not extending to the upper margin, and 

 covered with a brown epidermis. It is said to re- 

 semble the genus Trigonia, but the number and posi- 

 tion of the teeth are more like those of the Unid, of 

 which genus De Blainville has made it a species, and 

 consequently places it in the third class, Acephalo- 

 phora ; third order, Lamellibranchiata ; sixth family, 

 Submytilacece. It is a fresh-water bivalve, and the 

 animal probably resembles that of the genus Anodon. 



CASTNIA (Fabricius). A remarkable genus of 

 South American lepidopterous' insects, the situation 

 of which appears to be very doubtful, the insects 

 partaking of the characters both of the moths and 

 butterflies; the wings are broad, the antennae are 

 thickened towards the tips, terminating in a style, 

 the palpi are short, thick, and cylindric. The species 

 are, for the most part, of beautiful colours, and of 

 a large size. Madame Merian has given figures of 

 the transformations of one of the species; but lepi- 

 dopterists have considered these representations as 

 inaccurate. 



CAT FeKs or Felincc, THE CAT TRIBE. A very 

 numerous genus of carnivorous animals the most 

 numerous, indeed, as well as the most powerful, and 

 the most exclusively carnivorous, of all the mammalia. 

 They are also the most generally distributed over 

 the globe, being found, in one or other of the species 

 in every latitude, and in all parts of the world, with 

 the exception of Australia and the Polynesian islands, 

 in which none have hitherto been discovered. They 

 are the animals to which especially the name of 

 " wild beasts " or " beasts of prey " is applied ; and 

 each of those names is far more descriptive than many 

 of the popular names given to other races of animals. 

 They are, strictly speaking, wild beasts ; inasmuch as 

 the generality of them belong to wild nature only, 

 and disappear before the progress of population and 

 culture. One species, the domestic cat is, indeed, a 

 remarkable exception to this ; for it is found in a 

 domestic state only, in endless varieties of colour ; 

 and neither the original place of its habitation, nor 



the original race in a state of nature is at all known. 

 It is indeed sometimes said that the wild cat, which is 

 found in brakes and unfrequented places of Britain, 

 and generally in similar places throughout Europe, is 

 the parent stock of the domesticated species ; but there 

 appears to be little truth in this statement ; as it is ascer- 

 tained that in very remote times, when the country was 

 not so well inhabited as it is now, and when in conse- 

 quence wildcats were so abundant as to be troublesome, 

 tame ones brought a far higher price than they do now. 

 Indeed, at present, they have no marketable value 

 except an ideal one from favouritism, which is of itself 

 a strong proof that they have belonged to civilisation, 

 and to civilisation only, not only from its first estab- 

 lishment, but that they have accompanied its march, 

 like the ox and other domestic animals, from the time 

 of its commencement. The real use of the domesti- 

 cated cat has always been as a mouser ; and it is 

 natural to suppo?e that mankind no sooner began to 

 accumulate stocks of provisions to serve them during 

 those times when the earth is unproductive, than the 

 small animals accumulated in their dwellings ; and 

 as most of the original houses, in temperate parts of 

 the world, were in part at least constructed with mud, 

 they afforded more easy lodgment for these little 

 animals, than modern houses, which are constructed 

 of brick or stone, and thus the service of cats became 

 of more value. 



Besides the common domesticated cat, there are 

 some of the more mild-dispositioned of the others 

 which are trained, in some parts of the world, for 

 hunting ; not that they follow the game by the scent, 

 or even by speed through a long chase, like the dog 

 family ; for they must be carried till they are within 

 sight of the game, and at no great distance from it ; 

 and they make their capture by springing upon it at 

 one bound. The more powerful ones are known only 

 in the wild state, or as kept in dens at menageries 

 for the purposes of exhibition. But it must not 

 thence be inferred that they are untameable, any 

 more than even the mildest animals with which we 

 are acquainted ; for though none have been abso- 

 lutely tamed in modern times, and though we may 

 doubt the accounts of the generous forbearance of 

 lions recorded by ancient writers, yet there is no 

 question, that, if it were worth the trouble, the most 

 naturally ferocious of them could be domesticated. 

 The only question as to the taming of any animal is, 

 whether its use when tamed would justify the trouble 

 and expense; and the powerful animals of this genus 

 use their strength so much by fits and starts, and are 

 so indolent, except when excited by hunger, that it 

 is not very easy to see to what use they could be 

 applied. 



If, however, a use for them could be found out, 

 there cannot be the least doubt that, though they 

 might perhaps require a little more careful manage- 

 ment, in proportion as they are irritable in a state of 

 nature, all animals whatever might be reduced into a 

 state of perfect obedience to man ; the purchase of 

 that obedience being the constant and timely supply 

 of their natural wants, and by this means the preven- 

 tion of those excitements which are absolutely neces- 

 sary for their preservation, so long as they have to 

 depend upon themselves for subsistence. 



It is in the study of those more powerful, and a* 

 we are accustomed to say, more savage animals, which 

 live upon the flesh of other warm-blooded animals, 

 that we have the best means of correcting those erro- 



