CASWELL, RICHARD, 1729-89; a revolutionary officer, native of Maryland, but an early settler in North Carolina, where he was for many years a member of the colonial assembly, speaker of the house, treasurer of the state, first governor, and thrice re elected. He was a delegate to the convention that framed the federal constitution, and in 1787, was speaker of the state senate, and was presiding in that body when he was stricken with fatal paralysis. He was a brig.gen. in the patriot armies, and shared in the battle of Camden, and other conflicts.
CAT (Lat. call's), a name sometimes extended to the whole family of quadrupeds designated by zoologists/did/a (q.v.), the genus fells of Linmeus; and sometimes more restrictedly applied to a section Of that family, containing a number of its smallest spe cies, the domestic C. and species most nearly allied to it. These form the subject of the present article. They all pursue their prey on the branches of trees more than on the ground, and are most expert climbers, in which, however, they are rivaled by some of the other felidee.
The origin of the domestic C. is by no means well ascertained; and by some natural ists it is described as a distinct species, under the name fells domestics, which perhaps may be regarded as at least a convenient provisional designation, until satisfactory rea sons can be adduced for referring it to some species existing in a wild state. By many, indeed, the domegtic C. has been confidently pronounced to be a mere domesticated variety of the common wild C. (fells tutus} of Europe and the n. of Asia; but to this there are niany objections; the most important being that it is always of smaller size, contrary to what is usually observed of the effects of domestication in animals; and that in cats of the domesticated race which have run wild, and in their known progeny, there is no appearance whatever of a tendency to return to the type of the true wild cat.— Another opinion as to the origin of the domestic C. has obtained the assent of a consid erahle number of naturalists; that it is derived from the fells inanieuletta, or gloved C. of n. Africa, a species discovered by the celebrated traveler Rtippell. But Mr. Owen has
stated a perfectly conclusive reason against identifying the domestic C. with the fells maniculata. that the first deciduous molar tooth in the latter has a relatively thicker crown, and is supported by three roots, whilst the corresponding tooth both of the domestic C. and of the wild C. of Europe has a thinner crown, and only two roots.
The certainty, however that the C. existed as a domestic animal in ancient Egypt, makes it not improbable that we ought to look for its origin on the banks of the IsZile, or in some of the countries from which the ancient Egyptians might most readily have obtained it. Of its rarity in Britain in former times, when the wild C. was common in all the woods which covered so much of the island, a curious evidence is afforded by a Welsh law quoted by Pennant—a law of the reign of Howel the good, who died in 938 A.D.—fixing the prices of cats according to their age and qualities, beginning with a price for a kitten before it could see, and enacting that if any one stole or killed the C. that guarded the prince's granary, he was to forfeit a milk ewe, its fleece and lamb; or as much wheat as when poured on the C. suspended by its tail, the head touching the floor, would form a heap high enough to cover the tip of the tail.
It is needless to describe an animal so well known as the domestic C., or to do more than allude to its purring, its mewing, and the other sounds which it makes, its aver sion to wet its feet or fur, its love of heat and comfort, its stealthy manners when in quest of prey, its patient watchfulness, so often fatal to mice, and other points of its natural history with which everybody is familiar.
The delight which a C. takes in tormenting a mouse before killing it, has sometimes been mentioned as an apparent exception to the general character of goodness manifest in the instincts of animals. It is an interesting circumstance, however, that when tho prey is a bird instead of a mouse, a C. immediately inflicts a mortal wound, as if aware of its greater power of effecting its escape.