LElybridity in Animals. - 49 
respond to the Felis maniculata* of Nubia, and not to the F'elis 
domestica. Where then is the race of cats once so abundant 
in ancient Kgypt? They have probably come down to us s0 
blended with other species that their identity is lost. 
De Azara states, in the forests of Paraguay the Felis yagua~ 
rundi and the £'. eyra, both unite with the domestic eat; and 
he adds, that should these wild species become in time extirpated, 
and the mixed breed alone remain, the latter would be very natu- 
rally referred with all its varieties, to a single original species.t 
Mixed breeds have also been obtained between the black leop- 
ard and the African species, and between the lion and the tigress. 
The latter cross which is much the more remarkable, produced 
three cubs, which were doing well at the time the facts were 
published.{ We regret that no further particulars have come 
under our notice. 
Feline and Musteline Hybrid.—A most remarkable instance 
of hybridity between the cat and an animal of a totally distinct 
genus, is described in the following account, which is published 
in several of the best scientific periodicals, and appears to be well 
authenticated. ‘A domestic cat disappeared from a house in 
enza. After being absent some time, she returned; and within 
resembled the marten. Their claws were not retractile, as in the 
cat; and the snout was elongated, like that of the pine marten, 
(Mustela martes.) ‘The two others of the same litter more nearly 
resembled the cat ; as they had retractile claws and round heads. 
All of them had the black feet, tail and ears of the marten; and 
they killed birds and small animals more for the pleasure of des- 
troying them than for food. The proprietor endeavored to mul- 
tiply this race, and to prevent their intermixing with the domes- 
tic cats, in which he proved highly successful. In the space of 
a few years he reared more than a hundred of these animals. 
specimen presented to the Imperial Society of Natural History 
of Moscow, was of the third or fourth generation, and it retained 
all the characters of the first.”"¢— - : 
Professor Pallas has described and figured the Perrsa cat, Which 
has long been suspected for a hybrid, although very prolific. It 
may yet prove to be the animal we have just described. 
Lepine Hybrid.—Amoretti, quoted by Rudolphi, has published 
the history of a cross between the European or English rabbit, 
us cuniculus, and the hare, L. timidus.|| : 
' . 448. 1827. : es 
Loudon's Mag. of Natural History, ix, p. 616. Griffith’s Cuvier, ii, p. 489. 
|| Rudolphi, Beytrage zur Anthropologie, ete., p. 109. 
econp Serigs, Vol, UI, No. 7.—Jan., 1847. 7 
> Bot.Garde 
Igns 
the regular time, produced four young ones, two of which strongly - 
cd 
