CASTBO DEL BIO 377 CATACOMBS provisional president, in 1901 being chosen president for six years. But he rapidly developed into a tyrannical, vain- glorious, corrupt and disastrous ruler, of the most arbitrary and shameless character, so that the affairs of Vene- zuela became disastrously entangled, its commerce paralyzed, and its relations with other nations seriously compro- mised. He "revised" the constitution, enabling himself to be re-elected at the end of his term, and so mistreated for- eigners in business in Venezuela and the creditor nations that had made loans to the country that Great Britain, Ger- many, and Italy at length threatened and be^an violent measures. He asked the United States to aid him in settle- ments, but when agreements had been made to submit all to the Hague Tribu- nal and (1904) it had decided in favor of preferential treatment for the creditor nations, he evaded all settlements, and in matters between Venezuela and the United States he refused either settle- ment or arbitration. During the com- plications, however (he being supposed to have secreted abroad large sums to his individual credit), he went suddenly to Europe in 1908, as stated, to undergo a serious surgical operation, and in De- cember of that year he was formally superseded by Gen. Juan Vicente Gomez as president. Since then he has been prevented from returning to Venezuela. In March, 1909, the Venezuelans con- firmed his temporary resignation of the presidency in 1906 by "constitutionally suspending" him and enacting his ban- ishment. CASTBO DEL BIO, a town in the province of Cordoba, Spain, 16 miles S. E. of the town of that name. It is picturesquely located on a slope above the Guadajoz, and is a prosperous and thriving town, with handsome private houses and public buildings. Its prin- cipal manufactures are linen, woolen, and earthen ware. It is an important market for the agricultural produce of the surrounding district. It has a beau- tiful church, two colleges, a hospital, and several convents. Pop. about 12,000. CAT, the Felis catus ferus, a species of the genus Felis. The cat is originally from the European forests. In its wild state it differs from the domestic animal in having a shorter tail, a flatter and larger head, and stronger limbs. Its color is grayish-brown, with darker, transverse undulations. Its manners resemble those of the lynx, living in woods, and preying on young hares, birds, and a variety of other animals, which it seizes by surprise. At what period cats became inmates of human habitations, it is scarcely possible, at this period, to determine, but there is good reason to believe that they were at first domesticated in Egypt. The cat belongs to a genus better armed for the destruction of animal life than all other quadrupeds. The short and powerful jaws, moved by vigorous muscles, are supplied with most formidable trenchant teeth; a cunning disposition, combined with nocturnal habits and much patience in pursuit, gives them great advantages over their prey; and their keen, lacerat- ing claws enable them to inflict a certain death-blow. All animals considerably weaker than themselves prove objects of pursuit; but the mouse is their favorite game ; for which they will patiently wait for a whole day till the victim comes within reach, when they seize it with a bound and after playing with it, put it to death. The pupil of the eye in most animals is capable of but a small degree of contraction and dilatation ; it enlarges a little in the dark, and contracts when the light pours upon it too profusely; but in the eyes of cats, this contraction and dilatation is so considerable that the pupil, which by day appears narrow and small, by night expands over the whole surface of the eye-ball, and gives the eyes a luminous appearance. By means of this peculiar structure, their eyes are better adapted for vision at night than in the daytime; and they are thus fitted for discovering and surprising their prey. Personally, the cat is a very cleanly animal. The cat goes with young for 63 days and brings forth from three to six at a litter, which remain blind for nine days. The varieties of this animal in a domestic state are very numerous. CATACOMBS, caves or subterranean places for the burial of the dead, the bodies being placed in graves or recesses hollowed out in the sides of the cave. Caves of this kind were common among the Phcenicians, Greeks, Persians, and many Oriental nations. In Sicily and Asia Minor numerous excavations have been discovered containing sepulchers, and the catacombs near Naples are re- markably extensive. Those of Rome, however, are the most important. The term catacumhae is said to have been originally applied to the district near Rome which contains the chapel of St. Sebastian, in the vaults of which, ac- cording to tradition, the body of St. Peter was first deposited; but (besides its gen- eral application) it is now applied in a special way to all the extensive subter- ranean burial-places in the neighborhood of Rome, which extend underneath the town itself as well as the neighboring
