NATURAL HISTORY i2t)3 



tened ; the black and red changing into a transparent 

 brown, and the dark brown into an ash grey. By 

 comparing a wild .cat of our forests witlrone of tho.se 

 of Chorasan or Syria, we shall find that the only dif- 

 ference between them consists in this shaded variety 

 of colours. As these animals have therefore more or 

 less white upon the belly and the sides, it is easy to 

 conceive, that, in order to have cats intiroly white, 

 and with long hair, such as we properly term cats of 

 Angora, we have only to select from this race those 

 which are most white on the belly and the sides, and 

 to unite them together, as is done with rabbits, with 

 dogs, with goats, with sta^s, with deer, &c. In the 

 province of Pe-ch:-ly, in China, there are cats with 

 long hair, and hanging ears, of which the Chinese la- 

 dies are exceedingly fond ; these domestic cats with 

 hanging ears of which we do not possess a more ample 

 description, are, no doubt, more remote than those with 

 straight ears, from the race of the wild cat, which, 

 nevertheless, is the original and primitive race of all 

 cats. 



