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 (1/96. J. Crawfurd
'Descript. Dict. of the Indian Islands' page 255. The Madagascar cat is
said to have a twisted tail; see Desmarest in 'Encyclop. Nat. Mamm.' 1820
page 233, for some of the other breeds.), 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. (1/97. Admiral Lutke's Voyage volume 3 page 308.) 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.

The domestic cat has run wild in several countries, and everywhere assumes,
as far as can be judged by the short recorded descriptions, a uniform
character. Near Maldonado, in La Plata, I shot one which seemed perfectly
wild; it was carefully examined by Mr. Waterhouse (1/98. 'Zoology of the
Voyage of the Beagle, Mammalia' page 20. Dieffenbach 'Travels in New
Zealand' volume 2 page 185. Ch. St. John 'Wild Sports of the Highlands'
1846 page 40.), who found nothing remarkable in it, excepting its great
size. In New Zealand according to Dieffenbach, the feral cats assume a
streaky grey colour like that of wild cats; and this is the case with the
half-wild cats of the Scotch Highlands.

We have seen that distant countries possess distinct domestic races of the
cat. The differences may be in part due to descent from several aboriginal
species, or at least to crosses with them. In some cases, as in Paraguay,
Mombas, and Antigua, the differences seem due to the direct action of