20 THE WILD CAT 



noticeable from the point of view of scientific 

 nomenclature. As has been well pointed out 

 by Mr. R. J. Pocock, Superintendent of the 

 Zoological Society's Gardens, one of our 

 best authorities on this species and its con- 

 geners, the specific name catus was given by 

 Linnaeus, who must in doing so have meant 

 the domestic cat, the only species which he 

 knew, unless by hearsay ; and it is quite evident 

 that he took it for granted that the wild and 

 domestic cat were one and the same animal. 

 Since his day most writers seem to have 

 followed him in this. But here the large and 

 doubtful question of the origin of our domestic 

 cat at once meets us ; and this being admittedly 

 unsettled, it seems that these modern writers 

 are well advised who retain the designation 

 catus for one of the house-cats to which 

 Linnaeus first applied it, and accept sylvestris 

 to distinguish the wild cat. 



Linnaeus' description of the stripes of catus 

 are not applicable to the wild cat, but is 

 clearly that of the * blotched ' tabby form ; and 

 this is a strong argument for the rejection of 

 catus for the former. 



It is certainly true that the wild and domestic 

 cats stand in very close relationship. Blasius * 



1 Naturgeschichte der Saugethiere Deutschlands, 1857. 



