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THE DOMESTIC CAT. 



act of destruction, either of men or beasts. As were almost all destructive beasts, it 

 was protected by the great few who suffered no scath by its depredations, to the loss of 

 the many small, whose little stock of poultry paid heavy toll to the licensed marauders. 

 Even its fur was made a subject of legal enactment, being permitted to some orders of 

 the people and forbidden to others. 



In Ireland if the large savage feline that ranges the waste lands be indeed the true 

 Felis Catus it goes by the appropriate name of the Hunting Cat. 



WHEN ENGAGED in the study of an illustrated work on ethnology, with its portraits of 

 the various forms which are assumed by the human race, a certain feeling of relief and 

 repose takes possession of the mind when the reader turns from the savage races of 

 mankind, with their selfish, restless, eager, bestialized expression, to the mild and intel- 



THE CAT.-Fe/fc Domestic*. 



lectual countenances of the civilized nations. A similar sensation of repose is felt when 

 we turn from the savage, hungry-looking Wild Cat to the placid face and tranquil 

 expression of our favorite, the DOMESTIC CAT. 



Although this country possesses an indigenous Cat, which would naturally be 

 considered as the original progenitor of the Domestic Cat, which attaches herself so 

 strongly to mankind, it is now generally admitted that for this useful and graceful animal 

 we are indebted to another continent. In the description of the Wild Cat, it has been 

 mentioned that the distinguishing marks which characterize the two species are so per- 

 manent as to defy eradication, and to mark decisively the " Felis Catus " from the " Felis 

 Domestica." The comparative length of their tails is of itself a distinction, and one which 

 seems never to be lost by either the wild or the domestic animal. Whether those two 

 creatures have ever produced a mixed breed is a matter of much uncertainty, for although 



