62 Gleanings frcm the 



fage in the claflics where the word which has 

 patted into our " cat " occurs is in an epigram of 

 Martial (xiii. 69) : 



" Pannonicas nobis nunquam dedit Umbria cattas" 



Phaedrus has a fable of an eagle, a cat, and a fow 

 which inhabited the top, middle, and bafe of an 

 oak, and clearly ufes the word felis of our well- 

 known cat. One line exactly exprefles the cat's 

 nocturnal habits : 



" Evagata noctu suspense pede." (Fab., 2, 4.) 



Compare, too, the proverb, " Felem Minervae." 



The connection of cats and Egypt comes out 

 again in a pafTage of Ovid (" Met.," v. 330). A 

 mufe fings : 



" How the gods fled to Egypt's flimy foil, 

 And hid their heads beneath the banks of Nile, 

 How Typhon from the conquered fkies purfued 

 Their routed godheads to the feven-mouthed flood ; 

 Forced every god, his fury to efcape, 

 Some beaflly form to take or earthly fhape ; 

 Jove (fo me fung) was changed into a ram, 

 From whence the horns of Libyan Ammon came ; 

 Bacchus a goat, Apollo was a crow, 

 Phcebe a cat, the wife of Jove a cow.' 



(Maynwaring's Tranflation.) 



The peculiar roughnefs of the tongue in the 

 feline race generally is pointed out by Pliny 

 (xi. 37, 65). He adds : " With what filence, with 

 what light footfteps do cats creep upon birds ! 

 how fuddenly, when they have fpied them, do 

 they fpring out upon mice!" (x. 73, 202). 

 Arguing from this and fimilar pafTages, the late 

 Prof. Rollefton and others believed that the do- 



