8IZE, LENGTH, AND HEIGHT. 45 



tail, which was 11 inches 2 lines ; another example 

 measured 2 feet 3 inches, including the tail, which 

 was 12J inches. Daubenton gives the dimensions 

 of a Domestic Cat as 2 feet 5 inches 6 lines (French 

 measure). 



The height of a large male Wild Cat varies from 

 12^ to 13 inches at the hips and from 12 to 12 J 

 inches at the shoulders. 



The height of large well-fed male Domestic Cats 

 varies from 12 to 14J inches. 



Some of the Feral Cats which are now occasionally 

 found in Scotland measure from 13 to 14 inches in 

 height, and, including the tail, 3 feet 2 inches to 

 3 feet 4 inches in length — the tail being very bushy 

 and the rings black. 



The weight of a male Wild Cat seldom exceeds 

 10 pounds; that of large male Domestic Cats run 

 from 10 to 23 pounds. 



The dark colour of the pads was regarded by 

 Temminck as a distinctive character of the male of 

 Felis catus. 



Dr. Alfked Nehring (' Berlin. Gesellschaft natur- 

 forschender Freunde,' May 1887), in his remarks on 

 the colour of the soles of the hind feet of F. catus, 

 F. caligata, and F. domestica, considers that there is 

 a permanent difference between the Wild Cat of 

 Europe and F, caligata and F. maniculata, in the 

 extent of the black colour of the pads of the toes and 

 the posterior surface of the foot up to the os calcis 

 or heel-bone. In F. caligata and the closely allied 

 F. maniculata the pads of the toes are quite black, and 

 this colour extends wholly or in long black stripes 

 up to the heel-bone ; while the true European Wild 

 Cat, so far as his investigations go, only shows a 



