70 THE WILD CAT OF EUROPE. 



LENGTH OF THE INTESTINAL CANAL. 



Daubenton, in 1756, first noticed the difference in 

 the length of the intestinal canal between the Wild 

 and the Domestic Cat. He found that the length of 

 the small intestine from the pylorus to the caecum in 

 the Wild Cat was 3 feet 2 inches, while that of the 

 Domestic was 5 feet 9 inches (Fr.). The total length 

 of both large and small intestines in the Wild Cat 

 was 4 feet 1 inch, in the Domestic 6 feet 9 inches. 



Professor Mivakt states that the whole intestinal 

 canal in the Domestic Cat is about five times the 

 length of the whole body, though it is considerably 

 shorter in the Wild Cat. 



Mr. Harrison Weir ('Our Cats and all about them') 

 states that the intestines of the Domestic Cat are nine 

 times the length of its body, whilst in the Wild Cat 

 they were little more than three times the length. 



The difference in the length is chiefly found to be 

 in the small intestine, the length of the colon and 

 rectum being nearly the same in both races. 



Isidore Geoff. St.-Hii-aire, in his ' Histoire Nat. 

 gen. des Eegnes Organiques,' t. iii. (1854-62), has 

 the following remarks on Daubenton's discovery : — 



" II est vrai que Daubenton a compare les races 

 felines au chat sauvage d'Europe, et non a I'espece 

 qui en est la souche principale, le Chat gante. 

 Mais le groupe des chats proprement dits est telle- 

 ment naturel qu'une de ses especes, quelle qu'elle 

 soit, peut representor anatomiquement toutes les 

 autres. II est neanmoins a desirer que les voyageurs 

 en Abyssinie et en Nubie ne negligent pas I'occasion 

 d'examiner, ou de nous mettre a meme d'examiner, le 

 tube digestif chez le Felis maniculata, a fin de changer 



