THE PEDIGREE OF THE CAT 195 



chest, loins, and limbs, the tail being short and ringed. 

 With the exception of the shortness of the tail and its 

 dark rings^ all the characters of this species are just 

 those which might be expected in the ancestor of the 

 Persian breed, and it is quite probable that the points 

 mentioned may have been eliminated by careful selection 

 or crossing. 



To discuss certain other less well-known domesticated 

 breeds would probably be wearisome to the reader. Suf- 

 ficient has been said to indicate that the origin of the 

 animal commonly known as Felis domestica is probably a 

 composite one, and that it is scarcely entitled to be called 

 a single species. 



If the views of Prof. Martorelli be found substantially 

 correct, the following will be the lines of evolution : Firstly, 

 we have the ancestral type of the Egyptian cat (F. libyca\ 

 inhabiting North-Eastern Africa and a considerable part 

 of Europe during the Pleistocene, and perhaps a part 

 of the Pliocene, period. From this original species origi- 

 nated in the eastern side of the Old World the Mediter- 

 ranean cat (F. mediterranea) and the wild cat (F. catus). 

 When man became dominant he produced the European 

 domesticated breed, either directly from the typical Egyptian 

 cat or from its variety the Mediterranean cat. And this 

 original domestic breed soon became crossed with its im- 

 mediate cousin the wild cat. 



On the other hand, in the East the original Egyptian cat 

 gave rise to the jungle-cat (F. chaus\ the steppe-cat (F. 

 caudata), and presumably, therefore, that near ally of the 

 latter, the Indian desert-cat (F. ornatd). From the latter 

 are derived the spotted Indian domesticated cats, while 

 the fulvous domesticated breed of the same country has 

 been produced by a cross with the jungle-cat. Both these 



