FELIS DOMESTICA .
R f ü
D OM E ST IC CAT.
FELIS DOMESTICA, Gmel. Syst. Nat. (1 7 8 8 ) vol. i. p. 80, sp. 6, var. B.—Fisch. Syn. Mamm. (1829) p. 207. sp. 25.—Rengg. Zool. Journ.
(18 3 5 ) vol. v. p. 470.—Bell, Hist. Brit. Quad. (18 3 7 ) p. 182.-—Less. Compl. Buff. (1839) vol. i. p. 410.—Bias. Wirbelth. Eur. (1840)
p. 167, fig. 104 (skull).—Keyserl. & Bias. "Wirbelth. Europ. (1840) p. 61.—Nils. Skand. Faun. (1847) P- ,110.—Keyserl. & Bias.
Naturg. Säugeth. Deutsch. (18 5 7 ) p. 167.-—Gray, Cat. Hodg. Coll. Mamm. Brit. Mus. (18 6 3 ) p. 4. sp. 34.—Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc.
(18 6 7 ) p. 274.—Brown, Proc. Zool. Soc. (18 6 8 ) pp. 339, 340, 349.—Rollest. Journ. Anat. & Physiol. (1868) p. 47.—Gray, Cat. Carn.
Mamm. (1869) p. 32, sp. 31.—Giebel, Landw. Zool. (18 6 9 ) p. 39.—-Lenorm. Compt. Rend. (1870) lxxi. pp. 738, 743.
FELIS CATUS, var. ß, DOMESTICUS, Erxl. Syst. Gen. Anim. (17 7 7 ) p. 520.
FELIS CATUS, var. y, ANGORENSIS, id. ibid. p. 521.
FELIS CATUS, var. 8, HISPANICUS, id. ibid. p. 522.
FELIS CATUS, var. e, CLERULEUS, id. ibid. p. 522,
FELIS ANGORENSIS, Schreb. Säugeth. (1778) Th. ni. p. 397, tab. cvii. B. fig. 2.— Gmel. Syst. Nat. (1788) vol. i. pt. 1, p. 80, sp. 6, var. y.
FELIS CATUS (DOMESTICA), Schreb. Säugeth. (1778) Th. iii. p. 397, tab. cvii. B. fig. 1.
FELIS HISPANICUS, Gmel. Syst. Nat. (1788) vol. i. pt. 1, p. 80, sp. 6, var. 8,
FELIS CAERULEUS, id. ibid. var. |
FELIS RUBER, id. ibid. var. 1
CHAT DE NEPAUL, F. Cuv. Hist. Nat. Mamm. (1 8 2 6 ) vol. iii. pi. 126 (hybrid).
FELIS TORQUATA, Temm. Mon. Mamm. (1 8 2 7 ), App. p. 255.—Sykes, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1831) p. 102 (hybrid ?),
FELIS MANICULATA, Jenyns, Man. Brit. Vert. Ariim. (1 8 3 5 ) p . 15. sp. 14.
FELIS BOUVIERI, Alph. M ilne-Edw. MS. (wild Domestic Cat).
FELIS MEGALOTIS, Müller, Verhand. Natuur. Geschied. Zool. 1839-44, pt. 1.— Id. Over Zoogd. Ind. Archip. p. 54 (hybrid).
E x i s t i n g records would seem to prove that the Cat has been tamed and kept by man in a domestic state as far
in the remote past as 2000 to 2500 years before the Christian era. In Egypt, which country of course furnishes
us the major part of the evidence of the Cat’s antiquity, this animal was of the utmost importance, being in
many parts of the land worshipped as a deity, and treated with great respect in all sections of the kingdom. The
goddess Pasht or Bubastis was represented with a Cat’s head upon the body of a woman, and was regarded as the
especial deity of Cats. At Beni-Hassan is a temple dedicated to her, built in the time of Thothmés IV., 1500 years
before Christ; and behind the building are pits containing numbers of Cats’ mummies.
Herodotus states, lib. ii. 65, that nothing was more remarkable than the respect paid to their sacred animals by
the Egyptians; and when a cat died, every inmate of the house shaved his eyebrows; and if a dwelling burned, the
cats were to be saved at every hazard. Diodorus Siculus relates (lib:, i. 83) that a Roman soldier once killed a cat
in Egypt by accident, and so infuriated were the people that, although at the time the country was under the
dominion of the Romans, nothing would satisfy them but the offender’s death. The king in vain sent messengers to
explain that the animal was accidentally killed; nothing would quiet the mob ; and the soldier was slain in the
presence of the historian. From Egypt the Domestic Cat was probably introduced into Italy and Greece; and a
fresco painting of a Cat was discovered in Pompeii. Prof. Rolleston (Journal of Anatomy & Physiology, 1868, p. 47)
states that in Western Europe and in Italy there is evidence to show that the Cat and Common Marten were
domesticated nine hundred years before the time of the Crusades. He says the Mostela foina was kept in domestication,
and is the Cat or yaXíj of the ancients, while Mmtéla martes was named y«Ai? iypia, and Viverra genetta Tapr^ama ya\ij.
Additional records of the existence of the Cat in a domesticated state might easily be produced; but sufficient has
been given to show that it has so existed from the very earliest times, and its origin is of such great antiquity as to
be buried in obscurity. It is not improbable that the original Domestic Cat was derived from several strains, of
which possibly the most conspicuous were F. caffra, F. chaus, and F. catas. In the Middle Ages, according to Mivart