1907.] ENGLISH DOMESTIC CATS. 159 



Spain, it is highly probable that the}^ interbred with the native 

 Wild Oat, especially at a time when the latter was far more 

 abvindant than it is now and when precautions to prevent the 

 tame animals from straying are not likely to have been rigidly 

 observed. But even if such crossing took place, I do not believe 

 its effects could be traced in the progeny with any certainty, on 

 account of the resemblances between the parent forms. 



It may however, in my opinion, be assumed that the dilSerences 

 our English striped Domestic Cats exhibit from F. sylvestris on 

 the one hand and from F. ocreata on the other, coupled with an 

 unmistakable likeness to both, are attributable to that cause. To 

 assume that the striped pattern of this Cat is due to interbreeding 

 between domestic " Tabbies " or Blotched Cats and specimens of 

 F. sylvestris J needlessly complicates a quite simple question. 



It is difficult to decide which of the two species our Striped 

 Cats most resemble. Typical short-haired individuals recall 

 F. ocreata in the length of the fur on the body and tail ; whereas 

 in the colour of the ears greater similarity is presented to 

 F. sylvestris than at all events to African examples of F. ocreata. 

 In the proximity of the stripes on the neck, resemblance is evinced 

 to F. ocreata ; but their distinctness recalls, though in a lesser 

 degree, those of F. sylvestris. In the distinctness of the spinal 

 stripe, the domestic form lies nearly midway between the two ; 

 bvit the transverse stripes on the body and tail are as a rule more 

 sharply defined than in typical members of either of the wild 

 species: but their want of definition in some long-haired specimens 

 is quite pai-alleled by that of F. sylvestris, and suggests that their 

 indistinctness in the latter is atti-ibutable to length of fur. 



In the length of the tail the Striped Cat seems to be nearer 

 F. sylvestris. There is no evidence that this organ is shorter in 

 the domestic form than in the wild species just mentioned ; 

 whereas in North-Afi-ican examples of F. ocreata the tail is 

 longer than in either of those types*. 



In connection with the likeness this Oat presents both to Felis 

 ocreata and F. sylvestris, it is apposite to note that out of four 

 authors who have described specimens vinder the belief that they 

 represented wild species or races, two compared them to F. sylvestris 

 and two to F. ocreata. Blyth t, speaking of an example from the 

 Punjab Salt Range, says " it is of the streaked or spotted type, 

 the colouring and markings of which are not much unlike those 

 of the European Wild Cat {F. sylvestris) " ; and Mivart J, in his 

 description of F. torquata, remarked, " this Cat has much 

 resemblance to the European Wild Cat." Blanford, on the 

 contrary, says " the charactei-s of the upper premolars distinguish 

 F. torquata from the allied F. caffra (or caligata) [ = ocreata^ " § ; 



* Anderson and de Winton, ' Mammals of Egj-pt,' p. 172. 



t J. A. S. Beng. xxv. p. 442 (1856). X ' The Cat,' p. 420 (1881). 



§ ' Mammals of British India,' p. 86 (1888). The character Blanford refers to is the 

 nearness of the first maxillary premolar to the second — a very variable featm-e in the 

 skulls of Domestic Cats and also, though in a lesser degree, in those of F. ocreata. 



