46 



DOMESTIC CATS. 



Chap. I. 



in countries completely separated from each other, we meet with 

 breeds more or less distinct ; and these cases are worth givino- 

 as showing that the scarcity of distinct races in the same country 

 is not caused by a deficiency of variability in the animal. The 

 tail-less cats of the Isle of Man are said to differ from common 

 cats not only in the want of a tail, but in the greater length 

 of their hind legs, in the size of their heads, and in habits. 

 The Creole cat of Antigua, as I am informed by Mr. Nicholson 

 is smaller, and has a more elongated head, than the British cat. 

 In Ceylon, as Mr. Thwaites writes to me, every one at first 

 notices the different appearance of the native cat from the English 

 animal ; it is of small size, with closely lying hairs ; its head is 

 small, [with a receding forehead ; but the ears are large and 

 sharp ; altogether it has what is there called a " low-caste " 

 appearance. Kengger 89 says that the domestic cat, which has 

 been bred for 300 years in Paraguay, presents a striking difference 

 from the European cat ; it is smaller by a fourth, has a more 

 lanky body, its hair is short, shining, scanty, and lies close 

 especially on the tail : he adds that the change has been less 

 at Ascension, the capital of Paraguay, owing to the continual 

 crossing with newly imported cats ; and this fact well illustrates 

 the importance of separation. The conditions of life in Paraguay 

 appear not to be highly favourable to the cat, for, though they 

 have run half-wild, they do not become thoroughly feral, like so 

 many other European animals. In another part of South America, 

 according to Pioulin, 90 the introduced cat has lost the habit of 

 uttering its hideous nocturnal howl. The Eev. W. D. Eox pur- 

 chased a cat in Portsmouth, which he was told came from the coast 

 of Guinea ; its skin was black and wrinkled, fur bluish-grey and 

 short, its ears rather bare, legs long, and whole aspect peculiar. 

 This " negro " cat was fertile with common cats. On the opposite 

 coast of Africa, at Mombas, Captain Owen, E.IST., 91 states that all 

 the cats are covered with short stiff hair instead of fur : he gives a 

 curious account of a cat from Algoa Bay, which had been kept for 

 some time on board and could be identified with certainty ; this 



89 ' Saeugethiere von Paraguay,' 1830, 346. Gomara first noticed this fact in 



s. 212. 1554. 



90 ' Mem. presented par divers Savans: si 'Narrative of Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 



Acad. Roy. des Sciences,' torn. vi. p. 180. 



