ORIGIN OF THE DOMESTIC CAT 147 



^0^ 



existing breeds, the variations presented by the wild 

 types being still further increased by the hybridisa- 

 tion of their progeny ? Their variability, their 

 universal commixture, the perfect fertility of the 

 produce of the most widely separated 

 varieties, are arguments in favour of 

 their being only one species. On the 

 other hand, the remarkable difference 

 between some of the varieties is the 

 argument chiefly relied on for the 

 plurality of stocks. 



What was the appearance pre- 

 sented by some of the earliest known 

 forms of the domestic cat amongst 

 the ancients ? If this question could 

 be properly answered, we should have 

 the best clue to its origin ; but we 

 have no precise information on the 

 subject. We have it on the authority 

 of the late Mr Blyth (one of the best 

 informed zoologists of recent times) 

 that domestic cats are mentioned in a 

 Sanskrit MS. 2000 years old, and in 

 Egypt their antiquity is known to be 

 even greater, as shown by monumental 

 drawings, and the discovery of their 

 mummied bodies in very ancient tombs. Some of 

 these mummy cases are very curious, being either 

 of wood hollowed out in the shape of a seated figure 

 of a cat, or of plaited straw of different colours, 

 surmounted with a painted wooden head of a cat. 

 For the Egyptians not only took great care of their 



A MUMMIED OAT. 



