Abstract
In around 1799, Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande formed a new constellation out of a few faint stars below the main body of Hydra, but above the principal stars of Antlia. He named the figure Felis, the Cat, which he formally published in Bibliographie Astronomique (1805). Lalande often introduced new constellations, frequently under the influence of intoxicating beverages (see Chap. 8), although Felis was certainly one of his most whimsical suggestions. As he later wrote in Histoire abrégée de l’astronomie (1803),
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
“Dies Gestirn ist erst ganz neulich von de la Lande zur Ausfüllung des bis dahin noch unbesetzten Raums südlich unterm Hals der Hydra, eingeführt. Es besteht nur aus Sternen der fünften und geringern Grösse.”
- 3.
From Shuker’s forthcoming Last Night I Saw The Strangest Cat: A Cat-alogue of Feline Magic, Mythology, and Mystery.
- 4.
French writer and politician (1745–1828).
- 5.
W. Johnson and S. J. O’Brien, “Phylogenetic Reconstruction of the Felidae Using 16S rRNA and NADH-5 Mitochondrial Genes” Journal of Molecular Evolution 44 (0): S98–S116 (1997).
- 6.
J.U. Pontius, J.C. Mullikin, and D.R. Smith, “Initial Sequence and Comparative Analysis of the Cat Genome,” Genome Research 17 (11): 1675–1689 (2007); W. Nie, J. Wang, and P.C. O’Brien, “The Genome Phylogeny of Domestic Cat, Red Panda and Five Mustelid Species Revealed by Comparative Chromosome Painting and G-banding,” Chromosome Research 10, 3, pp. 209–222 (2002).
- 7.
W.E. Johnson, et al., “The Late Miocene Radiation of Modern Felidae: A Genetic Assessment,” Science, 311, 5757, pp. 73–77 (2006).
- 8.
J.D. Vigne, et al., “Early taming of the cat in Cyprus,” Science 304, 5668, p. 259 (2004). The work involved discovery of a Neolithic human burial on Cyprus including the remains of a young adult cat. Because the island was settled by agrarian colonists from Turkey, the first cat domestication may have taken place earlier on the mainland.
- 9.
C. A. Driscoll, et al., “The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication,” Science 317, 5837, pp. 519–523 (2007).
- 10.
R. Oliveira, et al., “Hybridization Versus Conservation: Are Domestic Cats Threatening the Genetic Integrity of Wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris) in Iberian Peninsula?” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Science 363, 1505 (2008).
- 11.
M.J. Lipinski, et al., “The Ascent of Cat Breeds: Genetic Evaluations of Breeds and Worldwide Random-bred Populations,” Genomics 91, 1, pp. 12–21 (2008); C. Cameron-Beaumont, S.E. Lowe, and J.W.S. Bradshaw, “Evidence Suggesting Pre-adaptation to Domestication throughout the Small Felidae,” Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 75, 3, pp. 361–366 (2002).
- 12.
Cameron-Beaumont et al. (2002).
- 13.
Coniugalia Praecepta 44, trans. F. C. Babbitt.
- 14.
Naturalis Historia 10.83.
- 15.
A similar example of multiple identifications of the same group of stars is Apis/ Musca Borealis, but there are fewer compelling reasons to differentiate these similar insects.
- 16.
Translated in Muriel Beadle’s The Cat: History, Biology, and Behavior, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 85 (1977).
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Barentine, J.C. (2016). Felis. In: The Lost Constellations. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22795-5_9
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