278 Frerp Museum or Naturat History — Zodétoey, Vor. XI. 
The clavicles are more nearly developed than in others belonging to 
the order, but do not articulate with the sternum or scapula. The 
skull is short and rounded; the bulle much inflated. The tongue is 
rough, being covered with sharp, hard papilla which point backwards.* 
The heel does not touch the ground in walking (digitigrade). The front 
feet have five and the hind feet four toes; a caecum is present but small; 
other characters as given for the order. 
Their food consists principally of animals which they have killed. 
They are largely nocturnal in habits and, with few exceptions, are more 
or less arboreal. 
Representatives of this family are found in a wild state throughout 
the greater portion of the world, except in Australia and Madagascar. 
Two genera and some 20 or more species and subspecies occur in North 
America, and three species have been recorded within our limits. 
The origin of the Domestic Cat is uncertain, but it is generally 
supposed to have decended from an African species (probably F. 
caffra or a closely allied form), which had become domesticated in Egypt 
at a very early periodt and was undoubtedly introduced in Europe, 
where it may, or may not, have interbred with the Wild Cat (F. cattus) 
of that country. That Domestic Cats were held in high esteem in 
Britain in ancient times is shown by an old Welch lawt in force during 
the reign of Hoel dda, or Howel the Good, who died a. D. 948, enacting 
that, if any one stole or killed the animal guarding the prince’s granary, 
he was to forfeit a milk ewe, its fleece and lamb, or as much wheat as 
when poured on the Cat suspended by its tail, the head touching the 
floor, would form a heap high enough to cover the tip of the tail. 
During the following 600 years, however, their pecuniary value 
decidedly decreased and in Topsell’s time (1607) they had acquired a’ ° 
somewhat unsavory reputation in many countries.§ That ancient 
writer devotes a number of pages to describing their habits, and judging 
from his account of them, they differed but little from those of their 
descendents at the present day. For example, he states that they are 
* Noticeable when the hand is licked by a Domestic Cat and, of course, much 
more pronounced in larger animals belonging to the family; the tongue of a Lion 
would tear the skin. 
t Cats were held sacred by the ancient Egyptians and many of their mummies 
have been found. Alianus tells us that at Bubastis (later known as Tel Basta) 
consecrated Cats were fed upon fish kept in reservoirs for the purpose (De Animalium 
Natura, 1616). 
t Quoted by Thomas Pennant, British Zodlogy, I, 1776, pp. 69, 70. 
§ Cats were objects of superstition, being regarded as the familiars of witches 
and Satan was Supposed to assume the shape of a black Cat. Among the many 
popular superstitions which obtain even at the present day may be cited: Thata 
Cat ‘‘sucks” a baby’s breath; that it has nine lives; that, if when washing its face its 
paws are extended above its head, rainy weather may be expected; that a black Cat 
crying on the roof of a house is a sinister omen, and many others equally absurd. 
