THE PEDIGREE OF THE CAT 191 
Egyptian cat the jungle-cat forms a connecting link. From 
a side branch of this line the steppe-cat (F. caudata) of 
Bokhara is considered to have sprung. 
Returning to the domesticated cat of Europe, it may be 
mentioned that the animal termed ai/uros by the ancient 
Greeks, and kept by them in a domesticated state, was 
not really a cat, although the word is so rendered in our 
translation of the classics. On the contrary, it appears, 
from the researches of the late Prof. Rolleston, of Oxford, 
to have been a species of marten (Mustela). That cats 
were tamed by the ancient Egyptians is proved by the 
number of their mummified remains entombed in various 
parts of the country, notably at Bubastis. Indeed, so 
plentiful are mummified cats, that a few years ago they 
formed a brisk article of trade, being employed for manure. 
From a careful examination of these remains, it has been 
inferred by Prof. Virchow that the animal to which they 
belonged .was indistinguishable from the wild Egyptian 
cat, and was not truly domesticated. In one of the ancient 
frescoes of the country there is, however, depicted a cat 
presenting a striking likeness to the ordinary “tabby,” 
and it is therefore quite possible that a distinct domesticated 
race may also have existed in ancient Egypt. There is, 
indeed, a possibility that if the so-called Mediterranean cat 
be really a wild variety of the Egyptian cat, a domesticated 
race may have originated in South-Eastern Europe, rather 
than in North-Eastern Africa. In suggesting that the 
original domestication took place in the latter area, Dr. 
Hamilton cites the occurrence of representations of undoubted 
Egyptian cats in Etrurian tombs dating from a period 
between 350 and 200 3.c. And a correspondent from 
Rome wrote to him as follows: “I should think there 
was no doubt whatever that the Etruscans received the 
