THE PEDIGREE OF THE CAT 195 
chest, loins, and limbs, the tail being short and ringed. 
With the exception of the shortness of the tail and its 
dark rings, all the characters of this species are just 
those which might be expected in the ancestor of the 
Persian breed, and it is quite probable that the points 
mentioned may have been eliminated by careful selection 
or crossing. 
To discuss certain other less well-known domesticated 
breeds would probably be wearisome to the reader. Suf- 
ficient has been said to indicate that the origin of the 
animal commonly known as Felis domestica is probably a 
composite one, and that it is scarcely entitled to be called 
a single species. 
If the views of Prof. Martorelli be found substantially 
correct, the following will be the lines of evolution: Firstly, 
we have the ancestral type of the Egyptian cat (F. ibyca), 
inhabiting North-Eastern Africa and a considerable part 
of Europe during the Pleistocene, and perhaps a part 
of the Pliocene, period. From this original species origi- 
nated in the eastern side of the Old World the Mediter- 
ranean cat (F. mediterranea) and the wild cat (F. catus). 
When man became dominant he produced the European 
domesticated breed, either directly from the typical Egyptian 
cat or from its variety the Mediterranean cat. And this 
original domestic breed soon became crossed with its im- 
mediate cousin the wild cat. 
On the other hand, in the East the original Egyptian cat 
gave rise to the jungle-cat (F. chaus), the steppe-cat (F. 
caudata), and presumably, therefore, that near ally of the 
latter, the Indian desert-cat (/. ornata). From the latter 
are derived the spotted Indian domesticated cats, while 
the fulvous domesticated breed of the same country has 
been produced by a cross with the jungle-cat. Both these 
