A TORTOISE-SHELL WILD CAT. 509 



it long ago. He had this skin mounted, and the new work of 

 taxidermic art became a favorite on his wide writing desk, to- 

 gether with the skull of a primitive Japanese, the femur of a 

 camarasaur, a live Gila monster, and a live turtle. The bracatta 

 was found in the great forests of southern Brazil. Its chief value 

 lies in the fact that it is the only specimen in existence, and mod- 

 ern values are based on the rarity of the commodity. Bracatta 

 has a protective advantage in its colors, which are such that it 

 would scarcely be distinguished, even in motion, from the dead 

 leaves, soil, or rocks, accounting for a ready escape from enemies 

 and an easy capture of prey, presumably small birds and mam- 

 mals. Its general color is brown and shades of brown, suggest- 

 ive, on the whole, of tortoise shell. The shading extends oblique- 

 ly down the back toward the hind legs. The hair is long and 

 very fine. The beautiful, dark, striped tail is nearly the length 

 of the body, exclusive of the neck. Underneath the cat is spotted 

 after the manner of leopards, and the legs have dark bands and 

 boots. It is a slender, tapering, and graceful animal. Its mark- 

 ings are plain, suggesting the beautiful in simplicity, which aid 

 in its general harmony with surroundings and to conceal it from 

 the eye. It has black and gray ears of moderate size, with long 

 inside hairs of a buff color. The whiskers are long and buff-col- 

 ored, with black bases. Below each nostril and above each eye 

 are buff spots ; the cheeks are yellowish brown ; the chin is a 

 pale buff, and the throat has three rows of brown spots ; the tip 

 of the tail is black ; the feet are small. 



Prof. Cope pronounced the animal new to science because it 

 was allied to only one species, Felis jaguarondi, and was possessed 

 of characters which appeared to him to be distinct. The jagua- 

 rondi is a wild cat of similar size from the same locality, but its 

 structural differences are notable. These structural differences 

 are visible at almost every point of comparison, applying to feet, 

 toes, claws, tail, ears, fur, and coloration. The aggregate of these 

 characters indicates the specific differences. 



Accompanying this article is a drawing of the bracatta as he 

 probably appeared in life and environment. A mounted skin is 

 necessarily more or less contracted and distorted. I think, how- 

 ever, the artist has effected the proper catlike proportions and 

 markings with much fidelity to Nature. 



It will be noted that the harmony of all this coloration is best 

 expressed by the general term of tortoise shell. Its love of small 

 birds and mice further suggests the domestic cat. Perhaps future 

 capture of the species and a study of its habits in the wild state 

 may disclose its relations, if any, with the tortoise shell of the 

 fireside. At least it has the merit of being the nearest approach 

 yet found to this particular domestic type. 



