158 MR. R. I. FOCOCK ON [Feb. 19, 



separated stripes, the admedian pair being, as a rule at all events, 

 better emphasised than the laterals, which lie quite at the sides of 

 the upper surface of the neck. In F. oo-eata the head- and neck- 

 stripes are usually badly defined ; when present on the neck they 

 are nairow and lie close together. 



Tn F. sylvestris there is generally a veiy distinct black wavy 

 median spinal stripe, usually extending from behind the shoulders 

 to the root of the tail. In F. ocreata the entire spinal area is 

 markedly darker than the sides of the body, sometimes showing 

 traces of three narrow stripes ; but the median is never so strong 

 as in F. sylvestris. In the latter, however, a pair of narrow 

 interrupted latero-dorsal stripes is sometimes traceable. 



These are the most obvious distinctions. Others ai^e less 

 constant. For instance, in F. sylvestris the ears are, generally 

 speaking, of the same colour as the head, though not infrequently 

 they are washed with yellow either all over or only towards the 

 tip. In F. ocreata they are almost always yellower or redder, 

 generally very decidedly so, especially in African specimens ; but, 

 on the other hand, in an example of F. ocreata sarda in the British 

 Museum the yellow on the eai- is no more conspicuous than it is 

 in some examples of F. sylvestris. 



In F. sylvestris the coat is longer and thicker than in F. ocreata. 

 This imparts to the former Cat a heavier, more robust, and 

 shorter-legged appearance, and especially suggests that the tail 

 is blunter at the apex *. The value of this difierence is discounted 

 by the fact that F. sylvestris is a more northern type than 

 F. oci-eataf, and that the length and density of the fur varies a 

 good deal in the latter, which appears to be a species endowed 

 with great capacity for environmental adaptation both as regards 

 coat and colour. 



Yet, in spite of the obvious resemblances above mentioned, the 

 assumption of the total diversity of the two forms seems to have 

 been pretty general, if we may judge by the absence of all com- 

 parison between them in monographs of the Felidse. 



Now the characteristics which the Egyptian and European Wild 

 Cats have in common are all possessed by the Domestic Cats of 

 the " striped " type ; and they are not found in any other species 

 of Felis known to me. Hence there is no difficult}^ in the way of 

 believing that our "striped" Cat is the direct and but little modified 

 descendant of eithei- F. sylvestris or F. ocreata, or probably of both 

 combined. F. sylvestris inhabits Spain, Italy, Greece, and Asia 

 Minor; and F. ocreata Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Sardinia. 

 Thus one species or the other is found in the countries bordering 

 the Mediterranean basin, where the civilisations of Europe had 

 their origin. If Egyptian Cats wei^e taken to Greece, Italy, or 



* Quite similar differences in the tliickness of the tail may be seen in Siberian 

 and Indian Tigers. 



t A verj' good description and au excellent figure of this species may be found 

 under the name Felis lyhica in Anderson's and de Winton's ' Mammals of Egypt,' 

 pp. 171-176, pi. xxiv. (1902). 



