michael boym (ca. 1612-1659), a polish jesuit missionary to south china, was the first westerner to describe the sumxu in his illustrated book "flora sinensis" (1656). "sum xu" was the portuguese rendering of "songshu", meaning "pine rat" and the description indicated the yellow-throated marten ("martes flavigula") indigenous to that region. the white lop-eared cat, however, was said to be found in a northern region of the country. later authors, copying and translating from early natural histories, conflated the two unfamiliar animals.