FELINES OF THE OLD WORLD. 



171 



been called by Riippell, who first discovered 

 it, the Fallow Cat. It is also known as 

 the Gloved Cat {F. maniculata), fig. "]"]. 

 On a careful comparison of the skeleton of 

 this wild cat with that of the mummies of cats 

 which are found in plenty in the Egyptian 

 monuments, as well as with the skeletons of 

 our domestic cat, the complete agreement of 

 the two has been thoroughly established. 



The examination of the half-wild cats that 

 roam about in the villages of Nubia and 

 Abyssinia, and which have nearly pre.served 

 the form and markings of the wild species, 

 has only confirmed this result. The fur of 

 the fallow cat has a yellowish or reddish 

 colour, darker on the back and lighter on the 

 under side. The legs and tail are ringed, as 

 in our domestic cat; on the head there are 



Fig. 76. — The Marbled Cat [Fe/is vtarnwrata). 



some darker longitudinal stripes, and on the 

 sides confused irregular marblings. It is 

 proper to observe here that all our domestic 

 cats, even those which afterwards become 

 quite black or white, have when young a 

 ringed tail, though the rings are indeed often 

 only very faintly marked. 



The fallow cat seems as much at home 

 among the scanty bushes of the steppes as 

 in the primeval forests of Central Africa, 

 where, like our wild cat, it pursues small 

 rodents and birds. When caught young it 

 is easily tamed, and attaches itself to man, or 

 rather to human dwellings, even in those 

 countries in which the inhabitants certainly 

 take no care of it. The ancient Egyptians 

 undoubtedly obtained it from the interior of 

 Africa, and afterwards they held it in such 

 reverence that the unhappy wight who, even 

 through accident, had caused the death of a 

 cat was regarded as a murderer and punished 



with death. The ancient Greeks were un- 

 acquainted with the cat. No bones belonging 

 to it were found in the ruins of Troy. Hero- 

 dotus told his countrymen of the animal as 

 he had observed it in Egypt. It was in 

 Egypt that the Romans became acquainted 

 with it. 



Now all our domestic animals derived from 

 India, or from Asia generally, were known 

 to the ancient Aryans, and since the domestic 

 cat was unknown to all the ancient Aryan 

 races, the inference that the domestic cat is 

 derived not from Asia but from Africa is 

 obvious. The domestic cat has accordingly 

 been introduced into the countries north of 

 the Mediterranean by the Romans, who ob- 

 tained it from Egypt; and the nations that 

 followed the Romans, the Arabs and Semites 

 in general, brought it further west. Now-a- 

 days this useful hunter of small rodents has 

 been spread by man over the whole earth, 



