in 1885, the writer gaston percheron suggested the lop-eared cat might be a hybrid between the cat and a marten. in 1926, cat fancier lilian j. veley wrote in the magazine "cat gossip" that the siamese cat (described in early breed standards as sable and dun in colour) was linked to the marten (described as sable and yellow in colour). percheron's description changed the lop-eared cat from a cossetted pet fed on delicacies to an animal consumed as a delicacy and this, along with the erroneous use of the "sumxu" name, was also perpetuated by later authors.