gated 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. Rengger[93] 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 Roulin,[94] the introduced cat has lost the habit of
uttering its hideous nocturnal howl. The Rev. W. D. Fox purchased 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, R.N.,[95]
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 {47} animal
was left for only eight weeks at Mombas, but during that short period it
"underwent a complete metamorphosis, having parted with its sandy-coloured
fur." A cat from the Cape of Good Hope has been described by Desmarest as
remarkable from a red stripe extending along the whole length of its back.
Throughout an immense area, namely, the Malayan archipelago, Siam, Pegu,
and Burmah, all the cats have truncated tails about half the proper
length,[96] often with a sort of knot at the end. In the Caroline
archipelago the cats have very long legs, and are of a reddish-yellow
colour.[97] In China a breed has drooping ears. At Tobolsk, according to
Gmelin, there is a red-coloured breed. In Asia, also, we find the
well-known Angora or Persian breed.