48 DOMESTIC CATS. Ciiai>. I. 



imported from foreign lands. On the other hand, in islands 

 and in countries completely separated fi'om each other, we 

 meet with breeds more or less distinct ; and these cases are 

 worth giving, showing that the scarcity of distinct races in 

 the same country is not cauwed by a deficiency of variability 

 in the animal. The tailless cats of the Isle of Man are ^aid 

 to differ from common cats not only in the w^ant of a tail, but 

 in the greater length of their hind legs, in the size of their 

 heads, and in habits. The Creole cat of Antigua, as I am 

 informed by Mr. Nicholson, is smaller, and has a more elon- 

 gated ht>ad, than the British cat. In Ce3don, as Mr. Thwaites 

 writes to me, every one at first notices the different appear- 

 ance of the native cat from the English animal ; it is of small 

 size, with closely lying hairs ; its head is small, with a re- 

 ceding forehead ; but the ears are large and sharp ; altogether 

 it has what is there called a " low-caste " appearance, Eeng- 

 ger ^^ says that the domestic cat, which has been bred for 

 300 years in Paraguay, presents a striking difference from the 

 European cat ; it is smaller by a fourth, has a more lanky 

 body, its hair is short, shining, scanty, and lies close, espe- 

 cially on the tail : he adds that the change has been less at 

 Ascension, the capital of Paraguay, owing to the continual 

 crossing with newly imported cats ; and this fact well illus- 

 trates the importance of separation. The conditions of life 

 in Paraguay appear not to be highly favourable to the cat, 

 for, though they have run half-wild, they do not become 

 thoroughly feral, like so many other European animals. In 

 another part of South America, according to Eoulin,^* the 

 introduced cat has lost the habit of uttering its hideous 

 nocturnal howl. The Eev. W. D. Fox purchased a cat in 

 Portsmouth, which he was told came from the coast of 

 Guinea ; its skin was black and wrinkled, fur bluish-grey 

 and short, its ears rather bare, legs long, and whole aspect 

 peculiar. This " negro " cat was fertile with common cats. 

 On the opposite coast of Africa, at Mombas, Captain Owen, 



®' ' Saugethiere vou I'araguay,' Savans : Acad. Roy. des Sciences, 

 1830, s. 212. torn. vi. p. 346. Gomara first noticed 



** 'Mem. presentes par divers this fact in loS-t. 



