76 THE WILD CAT OF EUROPE. 



Vertebrati') states that the Wild Cat breeds only 

 once a year, and has 4 or 5 in a litter ; he also remarked 

 that in Cats which live exclusively on animal food 

 the proportion of female kittens in 69 cases recorded 

 was as 37 to 32. 



Confinement in cages of wild animals may produce 

 a modification of their natural habits, and may 

 lengthen or shorten the gestation period. 



Mr. Baetlett, the able Superintendent of the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, states that " the period of gestation 

 in the Lion, the Tiger, the Leopard, and the Ocelot 

 extends to 16 weeks, or 112 days ; " but this appears 

 to be uncertain ; at the last accouchement of a lioness, 

 in 1893, the period was shortened some five or six 

 days, although every precaution appears to have been 

 taken in separating the male, and counting the days 

 from that separation. 



In the Domestic Cat the gestation period has been 

 possibly shortened from the increasing powers of 

 fertility, from abundance of food, &c., as stated by 

 Herbert Spencer ; and this would appear to be only 

 the case whilst in a state of domesticity, if what 

 Buffon states be true, that the same animal run wild 

 will only produce its young once a year, instead 

 of three or four times ; and it may reasonably be 

 supposed that the gestation period has been lengthened 

 and accords with that of the Wild Cat. M. Roclin 

 remarks that " a restoration of domestic animals to 

 the wild state causes a return towards the original 

 characters of that wild state." 



