AND THE DOMESTIC CAT 21 



points out certain small differences in the skulls 

 of the two forms by which they may be separated, 

 if with difficulty ; but the two races interbreed 

 freely, and unquestionably mongrels may fre- 

 quently occur. Those, however, who have made 

 a study of the subject and are familiar with the 

 true wild cat can hardly fail to distinguish at 

 once the pure from those of mixed descent. 

 Perhaps the most usual point of difference 

 adverted to in discussion or writings on the 

 subject is that of the tail, which is averred to 

 be thicker at the tip than the more pointed tail 

 of the house-cat ; but this is really only a matter 

 of hair, the skeleton of the tail being in both 

 cases much alike, as far as taper is concerned. 

 It has been pointed out by Mr. Pocock that 

 there is an exact parallel in the case of the 

 tigers of India and Mongolia respectively ; 

 where in the short-haired Indian tiger the 

 tail is tapered, but in the long-haired northern 

 individual is thick at the point, just as in the 

 wild cat and for the same reason, the greater 

 length and thickness of the hair covering it. 

 An analogous instance occurs in the case of 

 the extraordinarily thick fur of the cats kept 

 in the Pittsburg refrigerators and on the Island 

 of St. Paul, as compared with the opposite 

 extreme of shortness of hair in the cats of 



