TEE CAT. 



in a series of popular books, published originally in 1836, lays 

 down the law as follows : — " In this case " (the case of the 

 cat) " unlike that of the dog, there is no doubt which is the 

 original head of the domesticated stock. The wild cat of the 

 European forests is the tame cat of European houses. The 

 tame cat would become wild if turned into the woods. The 

 wild cat at some period has been domesticated, and its species 

 has been established in almost every family of the old and 

 new continent." This argument is, however, not completely 

 correct. The tame cat will certainly " become wild " if turned 

 into a forest ;' that is to say, it will cease to be gentle and re- 

 spond to the slavish epithet of " puss ; " but really it is no 

 more a wild cat than when it dozed on the hearth-rug and 

 drank milk from a saucer. One of the chief points of dis- 

 tinction between the wild and domestic cat is found in the 

 comparative size and length of their tails. In the domestic cat, 

 the tail is long and tapers to a fine point, whereas, in the wild 

 cat, the tail is short and bushy and blunt. Again, the domestic 

 cat is invariably of smaller size than the wild animal, and it is 

 well known that the effect of domestication on animals is to 

 increase their bulk. 



The celebrated naturalist, M. Eiippel, discovered in the 

 weedy and bushy regions of Ambukol, west of the Nile, a cat 

 whose size was that of the medium-sized domestic cat, or about 

 one-third smaller than the European wild cat, and having a 

 longer tail than the animal last mentioned. The hair of this 

 animal was long and in colour a blending of dirty-white and 

 yellow. It was M. Riippel's opinion that this cat was descended 

 from the domestic oat of the ancient Egyptians, now to be 

 traced in the cat-mummies and their representations on the 

 monuments of Thebes. The domestic cat is " le chat " of the 

 French, " Gatto " of the Italians, " Gats " of the Spanish 

 and Portuguese, " Katze " of the Germans, " Kat " of the 

 Dutch and the Danes, " Oath " of the Welsh. It is worthy of 

 remark that all these names are the same as the Latin Gatus, 

 and this is somewhat in favour of aU northern and western 

 Europe having received the cat through Eoman navigators, 

 and we are thus brought nearer to Egypt and its probable 

 origin. 



Eiippel believed that the Egyptian oat and that which is 

 familiar to us were identical, and Temminck concurs with him. 

 Professor Owen, however, declares emphatically against this 

 doctrine, and gives as the reason this — that in the Egyptian 



