CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 
269 
The Domestic Cat, F. Catus ; Chat, in French ; Gatto, in Italian ; Gato, in Spanish ; Katze, 
in German. — The domestic cat, like the domestic dog, has been the companion of man from the 
earliest periods of history ; it is the only one of the cat family that has been generally used in the 
economy of home. Egypt had its domestic cats, where they were embalmed, and their remains 
are still found ; probably that country was the first to domesticate these animals. In nearly all 
European countries, the name of the cat is derived from the Latin, which renders it likely that 
■ Northern and Western Europe received this domestic animal through Roman civilization. As is 
the case with other domesticated animals — although the wild ones are nearly all alike in size, 
form, and color — the tame ones are black, white, gray, mottled, and variegated, in endless diversity. 
There are also particular breeds, some of which have attained celebrity, as the Angora Cat, a 
large, fine kind, gentle and delicate, with fine silvery hair ; the Maltese Cat, of a mouse-color, 
and distinguished as a good mouser ; the Tabhy Cat, which resembles the wild breed ; and the 
Tortoise-shell Cat, supposed to have originated in Spain, and beautifully marked with white, black, 
and orange colors, and noted for its activity and its grateful attachment to its keeper. The females 
are generally pure tortoise-shell, while the males are buff", with stripes of a darker hue. The Persian 
Gat is of a glossy gray, with the fur long, and soft as silk ; the Chinese Cat is beautifully glossed, 
and variegated with black and yellow. The Chartreuse Cat is of a white or whitish color, with a 
blue tinge, the eyelids being red. The Manx or Tailless Cat, of Cornwall, in England, and the 
Isle of Man, are of this breed. In our country, the breeds of cats are little attended to. In 
France, the people generally are cat-fanciers, and many beautiful specimens are to be seen there. 
The habits of cats are familiar to all: their light, noiseless tread; their easy, graceful move- 
ments ; their sly, stealthy approach, when seeking to catch a mouse or a bird ; the patience with 
which they watch for it, — the sudden, murderous bound, with which they seize it! Everybody 
has seen the pride with which they parade their just-caught game before the household ; the levity 
with which they torment a poor, frighted, dying mouse. V\^hat can exceed the soft, seductive 
grace with which puss smiles and fawns upon you, when she is pleased ! how gentle is her pur, 
how velvety her paw, at such a time as this ! What can be more hideous than her whole aspect 
when she is angry, — her teeth displayed, her claws protruded, her back arched, her tail aloft, hei 
hair standing out in all directions, while she spits like a tobacco-chewer leveling his battery at 
the carpets of the Astor House or the St. Nicholas ! What spectacle is there in nature more 
pleasing than a family of kittens at their play ? 
What is more amusing than to watch a young cat when it first sees itself in a mirror ? Half 
curious and half playful, it begins by pawing at the image ; then it peers slily around the edge 
of the glass, but returns disappointed. Again observing the reflection, it renews its attempts. 
This is several times repeated, until at last the little creature puts itself in various attitudes to 
observe the effect. After a time it ceases to attempt to catch or play with the image, but still 
seems fond of seeing itself in a glass. 
Cats are fond of certain odors, as those of catmant and valerian, rolliup- themselves in a kind of 
ecstasy when they smell the latter plant. They spend much time in stroking their faces with their 
paws, as if washing themselves. Notwithstanding their seeming gentleness, they have savage fights 
with each other, and tear the skin off each other's necks. 
The pupil of a cat's eye, in the light, appears to be only a vertical line or slit : in the dark it 
becomes round. The glistening of a cat's eyes in a dim light, has been supposed to be owing to 
a phosphoric emanation ; it is, however, only the reflection of the light from the cornean membrane 
of the eye. The electricity noticed on the back of the animal probably belongs to the hair of all 
I the feline race, and is conjectured to be in some way — not yet explained — connected with their 
\ natural excitability. 
The cat possesses the instinct of catching and eating mice, and the mouse that of shunning the 
cat as its most dangerous enemy. Once, a gentleman in Rome happened to open a drawer he 
seldom had occasion to use, when he saw a mouse jumping out of it, and found among the papers 
a nest with five young mice, naked and blind, and of a pale flesh-color. He placed them on a 
* table, handled them, &c., and they evinced no symptoms of fright, nor any inclination to get away, 
I but only appeared eager to approach each other for the sake of w^armth. There happened to be 
