i84 BRITISH MAMMALS 



domestic dog and ox (possibly also the sheep and the pig), the origin 

 of the domestic cat has, no doubt, been a multiple one. Those 

 who would deny all participation of the wild cat in the crea- 

 tion of this domestic species are simply unobservant persons. 

 There is no doubt that the average tabby found in France, 

 Britain, Germany, and the colder regions of Asia is more 

 nearly allied to the wild cat than to Felis caffra, which is 

 unquestionably the principal ancestor of the domestic cats 

 of Egypt and the countries bordering the Mediterranean. On 

 the other hand, all the Asiatic species above enumerated as allies 

 of the wild cat seem to have had their share in the ancestry 

 of the domesticated cats of India, Asia Minor, Persia, Tibet, 

 China, and Siam. A cat was probably first domesticated in India 

 and in Egypt, especially in the last-named country. The cat 

 which the Egyptians domesticated was the Felis caffra, the 

 common wild cat ^ of all Africa, Syria, and Arabia. The domesti- 

 cated Felis caffra was sufficiently near in origin and size to the 

 other European and Asiatic members of the Catine group to 

 interbreed with them. Consequently, when the domestic cat 

 of India and Egypt grew into favour owing to its capacity for 

 destroying rats and mice which had begun to infest human 

 habitations, it spread from Africa and Syria into Mediterranean 

 Europe, where it displaced the tamed martens which had 

 previously been domesticated for the same purpose. As this 

 domesticated Eastern cat spread into Asia Minor, the Balkan 

 Peninsula, Central and South-western Europe, it interbred freely 

 with the wild cats of those regions. The same thing occurred 

 when the domesticated cat spread eastwards and northwards from 

 India. In this way were produced the many different breeds of 

 domestic cat existing at the present day. It would probably 

 have been impossible to domesticate the wild cat of Europe 

 unmingled with any other type ; but when tame female cats of 



^ Felis caffra (as already stated) is by some authorities divided into 

 two species, F. caligata and F. maniatlata ; but there seem to be no 

 valid grounds for these divisions of a species which, Hke most cats, shows 

 considerable local variations. 



