138 



THE NATURALIST. 



ringed with black ; the tip is black. The feet and inside of the legs yellowish 

 grey. The average length is given as from two to three feet. The tail is 

 nearly a foot in length. 



Felis maniculata, Eiippell. — Body slender j head rather obtuse ; ears 

 rather long. Body and limbs markedly smaller and more slender than in 

 Felis catus. Tail longer than in Felis catus, but not bushy. Colour, greyish 

 yellow ; a dark streak runs from the eye to the nose ; eight narrow black bands 

 run from the forehead upwards to the occiput. The cheeks, throat, and 

 anterior part of the neck, white mingled with yellow, A dark streak runs 

 along the back j the fore and hind limbs, which are rather paler in colour 

 than the rest of the body, are also marked with several black bands. Length? 

 about two feet. 



J^ow it appears to me that the greater number of the varieties 

 presented by our domestic cat will be found on examination to tally 

 much more closely with the latter than the first of these two descriptions, 

 and I cannot but think that they originated from the Felis maniculata. 



This opinion is somewhat confirmed also by the fact that the Egyptians 

 tamed and domesticated that animal. It is also tolerably certain that they 

 were imported in a tame condition to Rome, and what more likely than 

 that the Romans in their turn introduced them into the rest of Europe and 

 Britain. The very names of this animal in the various European languages 

 are all forms of the Latin word catus — our own word " cat," for example, the 

 French " chat," the Dutch and Danish " kat," the German " katze," and the 

 Swedish "katta," all, therefore, I think, point to a Roman origin. 

 Moreover, we find from the early English authors that domestic cats were at 

 one time very scarce in this country, and fetched a considerable price, which 

 certainly points rather to a foreign than a home origin. Another argument 

 in favour of this theory, but one on which I would not wish to seem to lay 

 much stress, is, that from time to time domestic cats have been shot in a wild 

 and comparatively savage state in woods in different parts of the country, but 

 all of them presenting the same well-known type and showing no disposition 

 to assume the peculiar form of Felis catus, which would probably have been 

 the case had that animal been the original stock from which they sprung. 



Supposing, however, that the greater number of the varieties of our domestic 

 cat, such as the tiger, the tortoise shell, and the charteux, are derived from 

 Felis maniculata, there still remains another variety, of which I spoke at the 

 commencement of this paper. This variety, one of which I saw in Scotland 

 this year, and others of which I have seen at various times in different parts 



