CHAP. XII.] 



DIFFERENT KINDS OF CATS. 



423 



Fig. 179.— The Manul (f. Manul). 



(44.) The Straw or Pampas Cat {Felis pajeros).* 



This animal is about the size of our wild cat, but is more robust in 

 build, with a smaller head and a shorter tail. The hair is long, and 

 the colour of the body is yellowish-grey, marked with transverse 

 bands of yellow or brown, which run obliquely from the back to the 

 flanks. Two patches descend from the eyes over the cheeks, and 

 meet beneath the throat. The animal is whitish beneath. The 

 legs and tail are marked with dark bands. 



Length from snout to tail root, twenty-five inches ; length of tail, 

 twelve inches. 



The skull has the snout remarkably short, and therefore is very 

 convex above anteriorly when seen in profile. The nasal region is 

 much pinched in laterally, and the nasals are very narrow in their 

 hinder half. The zygomata are greatly arched outwards. The first 

 upper premolar is wanting. The cusp of the first lower premolar is 

 much prolonged. 



This animal appears to be a New- World form which represents as 

 it were F. Manul of the Old World. 



It inhabits the Pampas and Patagonia down to the Straits of 

 Magellan. 



♦ Gray, Pro. Zool. Soc, 1867, p. 269 ; 

 and Catalogue of Camivora, p. 18. For 

 the skull, see a paper by Dr. R. A. 



Pliilippl, in Wiegmann's Archiv, 1873, 

 p. 8, plate 3, figs. 3 and 4. 



