100 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



with which we are now familiar, it must be 

 remembered that, however crossed, selected, 

 re-crossed, domesticated, or what not, we 

 have but two breeds on which the super- 

 structure of what is known to-day as the 

 ' classification of varieties ' has been reared 

 viz. the long-hair or Eastern cat, and the short- 

 hair or Euro- 

 pean. The 

 term ' breed ' 

 is even here 

 used advisedly, 

 for whatever 



MRS. HERRING'S " CHAMPION JIMMY." 



(Photo : W. Morice, Lewisham High Road.) 



the outer covering or coat, colour, or length of 

 fur, the contour of each and all is practically 

 the same. 



Nor is this confined to mere outline. Take 

 the skull, for example, which measured in 

 the usual manner with shot, making due 

 allowance for difference in size, is not only 



similar in the different varieties of either 

 long- or short-hair, but even in the wild cat 

 the anatomy is similar, the slight variation 

 being in a great measure explained by its 

 different conditions of life and diet, and is in 

 unison with the fact of how even the ordinary 

 domestic cat will undergo a change in taking 

 up a semi-wild, outdoor existence." 



At the present time there is no doubt that 

 long-haired cats are the more popular, and, 

 judging by the entries at our large shows, the 

 numbers may be taken as four to one. A 

 slight reaction has set in since short-haired 

 societies have been formed, but the fascina- 

 tion for fluffy pets and pretty pussies will, 

 I think, always predominate, for the less at- 

 tractive points of the English domestic cat 

 do not appeal so strongly to the heart and 

 the eye of the general public. 



It may be remarked by the readers of ' : The 

 Book of the Cat " that very few pictures of 

 short-haired cats are reproduced ; and it is 

 just because the long-haired pussies are so 

 much more attractive that they are brought 

 into greater prominence in this work. It is 

 more difficult to obtain nice photographs of 

 short-haired cats, probably because the owners 

 of these less expensive pets do not think it is 

 worth while to spend their money or to go to 

 any trouble over having a good picture taken. 

 As regards the coloured plates appearing in 

 this work, care has been taken to instruct the 

 artists to bring out as prominently as possible 

 the special points of the cats, long- and short- 

 haired. It is the first time that coloured 

 plates of the different kinds of cats have been 

 attempted ; and it is hoped that, as types of 

 each breed, these will prove useful to fanciers 

 and instructive to the cat-loving public. 



