THE PEDIGREE OF THE CAT 191 



Egyptian cat the jungle-cat forms a connecting link. From 

 a side branch of this line the steppe-cat (F. caudata) of 

 Bokhara is considered to have sprung. 



Returning to the domesticated cat of Europe, it may be 

 mentioned that the animal termed ailuros by the ancient 

 Greeks, and kept by them in a domesticated state, was 

 not really a cat, although the word is so rendered in our 

 translation of the classics. On the contrary, it appears, 

 from the researches of the late Prof. Rolleston, of Oxford, 

 to have been a species of marten (Musteld). That cats 

 were tamed by the ancient Egyptians is proved by the 

 number of their mummified remains entombed in various 

 parts of the country, notably at Bubastis. Indeed, so 

 plentiful are mummified cats, that a few years ago they 

 formed a brisk article of trade, being employed for manure. 

 From a careful examination of these remains, it has been 

 inferred by Prof. Virchow that the animal to which they 

 belonged was indistinguishable from the wild Egyptian 

 cat, and was not truly domesticated. In one of the ancient 

 frescoes of the country there is, however, depicted a cat 

 presenting a striking likeness to the ordinary "tabby," 

 and it is therefore quite possible that a distinct domesticated 

 race may also have existed in ancient Egypt. There is, 

 indeed, a possibility that if the so-called Mediterranean cat 

 be really a wild variety of the Egyptian cat, a domesticated 

 race may have originated in South-Eastern Europe, rather 

 than in North-Eastern Africa. In suggesting that the 

 original domestication took place in the latter area, Dr. 

 Hamilton cites the occurrence of representations of undoubted 

 Egyptian cats in Etrurian tombs dating from a period 

 between 350 and 200 B.C. And a correspondent from 

 Rome wrote to him as follows : "I should think there 

 was no doubt whatever that the Etruscans received the 



