EELATIONSniP WITH FELIS DOMESTICA. 83 



remarks that the Tarentines have one great claim on 

 our gratitude — they first imported the Domestic Cat, 

 which they no doubt received in their constant inter- 

 course with the East. 



Le Noemant remarks that the Greek writers mention 

 the Ailuros (literally a beast carrying its tail like a 

 plume) as a wild animal to be destroyed for the sake 

 of its skin ; but the Cat was only known as a domestic 

 pet in Egypt, where it was seen by Herodotus, 

 Avho mentions the strange custom of the inhabitants 

 shaving off their eyebrows as a sign of mourning 

 when the house cat died. 



The Eomans, although they must have known of 

 this Cat early in the first century, do not appear to 

 have adopted it as a domestic animal till about the 

 fourth century A.D. ; but, as stated above, it appears 

 to have spread over Italy long previous to that date, 

 as representations of this animal are to be found in 

 many of the old tombs in Etruria. 



At Oervetri (the ancient Agylla), in Etruria, there 

 are many architectural and sculptured tombs ; in one 

 of these, which was opened in 1850, called Grotta dei 

 Rilievi, discovered by the late Marchese Campana, 

 there is at the bottom of one of the lower pillars 

 a sculptured figure of an unmistakable Egyptian Cat 

 playing with a mouse. At Corneto (the ancient 

 Tarquinii), in the Grotta del Triclinio, a banqueting- 

 scene is represented : " In front of each couch is an 

 elcgint trapeza or four-legged table bearing dishes 

 full of refreshments and beneath which is the repre- 

 sentation of a cock, a partridge, and a cat ; in another 

 tomb a cat is represented climbing up a tree " *. 



* Dennii, ' Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria,' 3rd ed. p. 319. 

 Murray's ' Handbook for Rome,' 1875, p. 494. 



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