DOMESTIC CATS. 
425 
marked by indistinct longitudinal dark bands, and there are also numerous rows 
of incomplete vertical stripes, passing into spots on the sides of the body. The 
under-parts are plain-coloured, but the tail and feet are marked as in the desert- 
cat, the under surface of the latter being, however, brown instead of black. 
The desert and waved cats have a particular interest in relation to the origin 
of the domestic cats of India, since it appears that the former interbreeds with 
domestic cats, many of which, in the regions inhabited by the desert-cat, are spotted 
in a nearly similar manner. In regard to the waved cat, Mr. Blanford remarks 
that “ nothing especial is known of the habits, and it is far from improbable that 
specimens of the present form are merely descendants of tame cats that have run 
wild. The converse is, however, equally probable, that this is the aboriginal race 
from which Indian domestic cats, and possibly those from other countries, are 
derived; and the circumstance that skins from parts of India so distant from each 
other as Nipal, Rajputana, and Kashmir, are precisely similar, is in favour of the 
latter view.” 
Domestic Cats. 
In the course of our survey of the last few species it has been incidentally 
mentioned how that the domestic cats of various countries interbreed with, and 
more or less closely resemble in coloration, some of the species of wild cats inhabit¬ 
ing the same districts. It has also been mentioned that the ancient Egyptians 
were in the habit of taming and training the wild caffre cat of their own country, 
which has been regarded by many authorities as the ancestral stock from which 
were derived the domesticated cats of Europe. 
Without committing; ourselves detinitelv to any one view, we confess that we 
are inclined to follow those who consider the caffre cat as the original parent stock 
of the domesticated breeds of Europe, but that, as suggested by Mr. Blyth, there 
has probably been, at least in many districts, a large amount of subsequent crossing 
of the original domestic breed with the wild cat. We are further disposed to believe 
that the domesticated cats of India may have had a totally independent origin from 
those of Europe, and we would also incline to the view that either the desert-cat or 
the waved cat (if the latter be a truly wild species) may have been the original 
parent stock from which they were derived. The common occurrence of spotted 
domestic cats in India—such being comparatively rare in Europe—is, indeed, highly 
suggestive of an origin from one or more of the numerous spotted wild species now 
inhabiting that country, while the general prevalence of “ tabbies ” in Europe is in 
favour of their origin from the caffre cat, with more or less intercrossing with the 
wild cat. It is, of course, possible that the prevalence of spotted domestic cats in 
India may be solely due to the effects of crossing with their wild compatriots, but 
the former is certainly the most natural view. Without going into the question of 
the origin of the domestic cats of other regions, we think, then, that, on the whole, 
the evidence shows that all those of Europe and Asia have not been derived from one 
single parent stock. 
Having said thus much as to the probable origin of domestic cats, we pass on 
to consider briefly some of the most important and well-marked of their breeds. 
Before doing so we may, however, quote with advantage a passage from the 
