Januarv 17, 1H95] 



NATURE 



277 



author, does not appear to possess quite so even a temper 

 or so docile a nature as the Indian species, but still, 

 judgintj from what has been done with them in our Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, there seems to be no reason why they 

 should not be caught and tamed exactly in the same 

 manner as their Indian relatives. Indeed, a few years 

 ago an officer, in the service of the (German colony of 

 " East Africa, made a special tour in India for the purpose 

 of investigating whether it would be possible to intro- 

 duce the keddah system into East Africa. Whether this 

 enterprise has ever come to anything, does not appear to 

 have transpired. It is also known that 

 the subject occupied the attention of 

 General Gordon shortly before his death. 

 In an article on the Wild Cats of 

 the Zoo, Mr. Cornish discusses the 

 origin of our domestic tabby. Be- 

 sides the European Wild Cat {Felis 

 catus), which now appears to be 

 increasing slightly in numbers in 

 Scotland, owing, doubtless, to the in- 

 creased reservation of so much of the 

 area of that country for deer-forests, 

 he suggests the Chaus Cat of India and 

 Northern Africa as a possible ancestor 

 of our domestic form. There are, how- 

 ever, two other species, which both seem 

 in many respects to have greater claims. 

 One of these is the Cat of North .-Xfrica 

 {Felts caffra or inaniculatd), a species 

 held in veneration by the ancient 

 Egyptians, large quantities of the mum- 

 mified remains of which have been im- 

 ported to this country for manure. .An 

 argument in support of the opinion that 

 this is the true ancestor of the domestic 

 cat, is the fact that the sole of the hind- 

 foot of this species, like that of most 

 varieties of domestic cats, is black, and 



not spotted, as in the European Wild 



Cat {Felis cati/s). 



Another possible candidate for the 



ancestry of the domestic cat is the 



Waved Cat (Fclis fon/iiatd) ; this cat 



has been obtained in various parts of 



India, but is never very common. It 



resembles very closely the Indian 



domestic breed. It is, however, more 



than probable that whatever the origin 



of the domestic cat may have been, it 



has interbred with the wild cats of the 



various countries to which it has been 



conveyed by man. This has certainly 



been the case in India, where hybrids 



between the native domestic cats and 



both the Jungle Cat {Fe/is chaus) and 



the Leopard Cat {Felis bengalensis) are 



fairly well known. 



.V plea for the repeal of the absurd 



and oppressive Act of Parliament that 



prohibits the use of dogs for draught 



purposes, forms another short essav. 



This .Act was based entirely on the if 



priori and ridiculous argument that 



dogs " were not created " for such a purpose. Mr. 



Cornish shows that on the Continent, where dogs are 



freely used in this way, no ill effects ensue to them, and 



that their employment is an enormous boon to the poorer 



classes, who are unable to afford horses. 



Several chapters of this work are devoted to the in- 

 habitants of the Reptile House at the Zoo, and among 



them is specially mentioned the Heloderm, the only 



known poisonous lizard in existence. A recent memoir 



by Dr. Shufeldt {P.Z.S. 1890, p. 148) has supplied a good 



NO. 1316, VOL. 5 l] 



deal of information respecting the anatomy of this lizard. 



The large poison glands are shown to lie on either side 

 of the lower jaw, their ducts opening into the floor of the 

 mouth, whence it is surmised that the poisonous secretion 

 finds its way along the grooved teeth of the mandible to 

 the inflicted wound. It is a curious fact that although 

 some of the teeth of the upper jaw of this Lizard are also 

 grooved, no trace of any poison gland has been found 

 here. An interesting account of the effects of the bite of 

 the Heloderm on the human subject has been already 

 recorded in our pages (X.^ture, vol. xxvii. p. 154), and 



I i(j. i. — i lie .Marliai H.iwk Eagle. 



it has been shown that its effects on man, though painful 

 at the time, are not of a serious nature. 



One of the very few statements in this work with 

 which we are unable to agree, is to be found in the 

 account of the diving birds at the Zoo. With regard 

 to the Penguin, Mr. Cornish says : " It cannot lly in the 

 air ; it cannot walk, but hops as if its feet were lied 

 together ; it cannot even swim." If Mr. Cornish will 

 turn to the account of the expedition of the Dundee 

 whalers to the Ant.irctic Seas, given in the Scottish 



