200 MAMMALIA—CAT 
. THE DOMESTIC: CAT? 

TxovcH an animal of prey, is a useful domestic. It is neither wanting is 
sagacity nor sentiment; but its attachments are stronger to places than to 
persons. The form of its body corresponds with its disposition. The cat 
is handsome, light, adroit, cleanly, and voluptuous: he loves ease, and 
searches out the softest furniture in order to repose on, and rest himself. 
Young cats are gay, lively, pretty, and would be very proper to amuse 
children, if the strokes of their paws were not to be feared. Their dispo- 
sition, which is an enemy to all restraint, renders them incapable of a 
regular education. We are told, nevertheless, of the Greek friars of Cyprus 
having taught cats to hunt, take, catch, and destroy the serpents with 
which that island was infested ; their scent, which in the dog is an eminent 
quality ‘s “xr from being good, and therefore they do not pursue animals 
which taey n> .onger see; they do not hunt, but wait and attack them by 
surprise. 
The most immediate physical cause of this inclination which they have 
to spy out, and surprise other animals, comes from the advantage which 
they receive from the particular conformation of their eyes. The pupil, in 
man, as well as in the greater part of animals, is capable of a certain degree 
of contraction and dilatation ; it enlarges a little when there is no light, ané 
contracts when it becomes too strong. 
In the eye of the cat, and of nocturnal birds, this contraction and dilata 
tion are so considerable, that the pupil, which in obscurity is large and 
round, becomes, in broad day, long and narrow like a line; and for this 
reason, these animals see better during the night than during the day, the 
form of the pupil being always round when it is not constrained. During 
the day, there is a continual contraction in the eyes of the cat, and it is only 
by effort, as it were, that he sees in a strong light; whereas, at twilight, the 
pupil resuming its natural form, he sees perfectly, and profits from this 
advantage, to know, attack, and surprise other animals. The whiskers, 
too, appear to aid him in the chase, by possessing qualities analogs to 
those of the — of insects. 
— 
1 Felis catus, Lin. 

