NATURALIST.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 884, 9 July 1913, Page 8

NATURALIST.

HOW THE OAT WAB DOMESTICATED Egypt was the granary of the world, and cats were therefore necessary to her prosperity. The modern domestic oat is, however, according to Milvart, descended directly from the ancient Egyptian cat, intermingled to an uncertain extent with various breods of European wild cats. In England in the Middle Agss the wild cat was common, bat the domestic oat a rarity, nevertheless, its high qualities were appreciated, as the following delightful excerpt from a sixteenth century English writer proves: 'This beaste is called a Mneion, for that he is enimie to Myse and Battes. He is syla and wittie, and soetb so sharpely that he overoommeth darkness of the nighte by the shyninge lyghte in his eyne. In shape of body he is like unto a Leopards, and hathe a great month. He doth delight tb&t he enjoyeth his' libertye; and in his youthe he is swifte, plyante and merye. He maketh a ruftill noyse and gastfall when he profnreth to fighte with another. ,He is a ornell beaste when be is wilde, and faUeth on his own feete from most high places; and vneth is hart therewith.

It may be ont of plsoe here to refer to the wonderful power of the oat in faUiog from high places on to its feet. A few years ago s practical test of the question was made before che French Academy of Sciences. A cat was hung back do«7nwards and suddenly dropped. The oat landed on its feet all right. As it fell a series of instantaneous photographs were taken of it. It was decided by the scientists that the oat turned in the air by using the hind part of his body as a fulcrum, on whioh the fare part acted as a lever. This is only another way of saying that the cat has a perfect physical formation. The cat's remarkable individuality and strength of will calls for particular attention. Although domesticated, it insists on living in the feline way. As the old writer pats it, 'he doth delight that he enjnyeth his Hbertye.' Fuss will wander on the roof at night. All attempts at systematic breeding have so far praotically failed. The oat is indispensable to man. It can catch plenty of mice in a day. Without eats vermin would make life insupportable. But having performed all these services for man, the oat Insists on certain rights for itself.

Unlike the dog the cat is not utterly devoted to man. It loTas luxury and places rather than people, and can never hold the game relation to man as the affectionate dog, but there is little difficulty in proving that it has greater intelligence. The cat learns by itself to open doors, to crack eggs and do a hundred things which the dog never thinks of. Do.not the very selfishness and self, dependence of .the oat show its intellectual (though not its moral) superiority to toe dog? There are an Infinite number of interesting facts with regard to oats, of whioh but few can be mentioned here. The oat has a special Sea of its own, with uncommonly sharp jaws. It will not stay on man. So deep is the instinotive hatred of the oat for the dog that a kitten with unopened eyes will spit and hiss at a dog. Yet so reasonable is the grown cat that it will make friends with almost any individual dog. A curious problem is presented to science by the passionate devotion of the cat to milk and fish, especially oysters. It is obvious that the wild oat coold not have obtained milk and oysters, bnt our feline pets, in many instances prefer thsse things to ordinary food.