146 Mfornfi — ^4 Xcir Ocdot front ll'.rtts. 



identical with the Felis 2><'rdaUs of Liiiiia'us. whicli was hased 

 primarily on the 'Cato-Pardus mexicanus' of llernaiidoz. 



Felis limitis s]i. nov. 



KIO ORANDE OCELOT. 



Ttipr adult male. No. fliil U. S. National Museum. Riolos-ical Sur- 

 vey Collection, taken at l^rownsville, Texas, March 4. lSi)2. by Mr. F. 

 R. ArmstroniT. Oriuinal No. 1(»2. 



ChdVdctn'x. — Smaller and .i>-rayer than Fdis pai-dalis Linuieus, with 

 coloration less intense. Skull relatively broad: dentition weaker: in- 

 terpteryuoid fossa wider and more qnadrate: audital bulla' wider and 

 more inflated: postorbital process more flattened and less depressed. 



Color. — Winter pelage: Upperparts excpiisitely lined and spotted with 

 black on a drab-gray ground. The ground color varies from whitish 

 drab-gray on the unenclosed areas to pale broccoli brown on those that 

 are enclo.sed or margined with black. The pattern is never exactly the 

 same on any two specimens, although the general effect is similar. 

 There is a distinct vertebral area marked with black, usually appearing 

 as a more or less broken or irregular line of black on the posterior three- 

 fifths, breaking up into parallel or divergent lines or spots anteriorly; 

 it is usually apparent from the occiput to the root of the tail, though 

 always an interrupted line. In places, especially on the rump, it often 

 becomes a single or double row of black spots, while anteriorly it may 

 change to i)arallel lines or elongated enclosures. On each side of the 

 vertebral line is a parallel series of enclosed or (occasionally) solid black 

 elongate areas, sometimes containing black spots. Succeeding these, 

 laterally, are series of elongate, partially or completely enclosed spots 

 or irregidar bands of drab-gray having a trend downward and back- 

 ward, and separated from one anoth(>r by grayish-while areas, an 

 especially broad transverse one usually apiiearing behind the shoulder. 

 Upper side of neck with longitudinal black stripes enclosing drab-gray 

 areas anteriorly and usually open posteriorly. Tapper side of head with 

 a broad black, usually interrupted line arising about ten millimeters 

 above the middle of the orbital ring and extending backward on either 

 side to opposite the middle of the ear: between these lateral bands are 

 several interrupted lines of spots, larger behind and breaking up into 

 small spots anteriorly. Eyelids blackish, fwrdered above and below by 

 whitish baiuls, succeeded by drab-gray. Side of head with two con- 

 spicuous i)lack longitudinal stripes, the upper one commencing as a 

 black spot behind nostril, another in front of inner canthus and involv- 

 ing upper and lower eyelids, extending thence to a point about thirty 

 millimeters below and behind the posterior root of the ear: lower stripe, 

 beginning behind whiskers and below middle of orbit, extends back- 

 ward to behind ear, then transversely across under side of head, almost 

 joining the corresponding stripe of the opposite side. The space be- 

 tween these black lines is white excejil anteriorlx : that between the up- 



