150 MR. R. I. POCOCK ON [Feb. 19, 



available, which were apparently published in the same year ; 

 and between these a choice has to be made. These are : — 



ferus Erxleben, Syst. Regni Anim. i. pp. 518 & 522 (1777). 

 sylvestris Schreber, Saug. iii. p. 397 (1777), pi. cvii. A. (date ?)*. 



The synonymy of Felis catus ferus published by Erxleben 

 shows that he followed Linnseus in regarding the European Wild 

 Cat as what may be called the "agriotype" of the various 

 domestic breeds, such as domestica, angorensis, kispa^iica, and 

 ccerulea, described on pp. 520-522 ; and the excellent diagnosis 

 of the Wild Cat published on p. 522 beginning Catus Ferus major, 

 proves that he was acquainted with that species, and applied the 

 name ferus to it, and not to feral examples of a domestic breed. 



But for the following reasons I think sylvestris should be 

 preferred : — (1) Schreber adopted this name from Brisson's Regn. 

 Anim., Quadr. p. 265, which, being published in 1756, is pre- 

 Linnfean so far as nomenclature is concerned. Nevertheless, the 

 diagnosis of F. sylvestris suggests that Brisson distinguished this 

 Cat from the domestic catus of Linnaeus. (2) Erxleben quotes 

 both Brisson's and Schrebei''s works in his bibliographical 

 synonymy of F. catus ferus. Of Schrebei-'s work he coi'rectly 

 cites pi. cvii. A. inscribed Felis Catus lAnxi. feribs. Hence I infer 

 that he saw or knew by hearsay of this plate. I cannot, however, 

 find proof that it was published, properly speaking, before the 

 issue of the text in 1777. Since, therefore, the name sylvestris 

 in the text has page priority over the name ferus on the plate, 

 preference should be given to the former and the latter regarded 

 as a synonym. (3) The name sylvestris has been used for this 

 Cat by some modern writers, notably by Blyth and Hamilton. 



For these reasons I think it advisable to adopt sylvestris instead 

 oi ferus as the specific name for the European Wild Cat. 



Apart from the convenience of having a name for a Cat which 

 not uncommonly occurs feral in the tropics, the determination of 

 the correct name for the " Striped " Domestic Cat is a matter 

 of no great moment. Moreover, it is practically impossible to 

 settle with certainty which name should be chosen out of the 

 many given by earlier writers to variovis domestic breeds in 

 difierent parts of the world f. In addition to domestica and 

 hispanica, akeady referred to, the following are the most im- 

 portant : — ccerulea Erxl. for the " Blue Cat," which seems to be 

 a pale or incompletely melanistic sport perhaps of the striped, 

 perhaps of the blotched type ; angorensis Gmel., for the long- 

 haired breeds, which were no doubt originally of the " Striped " 

 type ; ruber id., for a red v^riety with a dark dorsal stripe ; 

 sinensis Kei-r, for a Chinese race alleged to have pendulous ears ; 



* For discussion of the dates'relating to Schreber's work see Mr. C. 1), Sherborn's 

 paper, P. Z. S. 1891, pp. 588-589. 



t These names have to be catalogued to prevent their inadmissible use in a 

 different sense by later writers (see Sherborn, Index Anim. p. 187, 1902). 



