buffon's source was abbé prevôt (written in french), whose source was john green (written in english), whose source was french jesuit de halde (written in french), whose source was martini's 1655 work. by 1777, buffon had concluded the lop-eared cat was a different species than the domestic cat and that it might therefore be the cat-like marten called the "sumxu". hence the name "sumxu" (the yellow-throated marten found in south china) incorrectly became attached to an alleged breed of domestic cat or cat-like animal found in a northern region. he reached this conclusion because de halde had omitted mention in his translation that the lop-eared cats were milk-white. boym's illustration of the sumxu did not draw attention to its ears, whereas martini described pendulous ears as the defining feature of the white cats of pe-chi-ly. this was perpetuated through the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially by cat fanciers looking for new and exotic cats to import.