426 



CARNIVORES. 



vrritings of Professor Mivart, pointing out the services which the cat confers on the 

 human race. " The domestic cat, ' observes this writer, " is an animal so common 

 and familiar that its utility is sometimes apt to be lost sight of. To realise its 

 usefulness we must imagine ourselves in a land where no such animal is knowTi, 

 but where the annoying creatures upon which it prej-s shall have multiplied with 

 that rapidity natural to them. The familiar tale of Whittington may serve to 

 illusti-ate what would be the effect of its introduction into such a land. It has 

 been calculated that a single cat may devour twenty mice in one day ; but this, of 



THE DOMESTIC CAT (J nat. size). 



course, is by no means the limit of its powers of destruction. Its effect in putting 

 to flight the creatures it pursues is, again, far in excess of its destructive energy. 

 Were every cat in England sinmltaneously destroyed, the loss through the entailed 

 increase of vermin would be enormous." 



On account of these invaluable qualities the domestic cat has been introduced 

 into almost ever}' country in the world. There is, however, still some degi-ee of 

 uncertainty as to the period when domesticated cats were first known in Europe, 

 although they were undoubtedly in existence there previously to the Christian era. 

 The mammal used by the ancient Greeks for the pui-poses for which we emploj- the 

 cat, and called by them ailuros, was long considered to be the same as the modern 



