496 



THE CAT. 



[chap. XIV. 



and common cheetali certainly exist in both Asia and Africa. With 

 these exceptions, however, the two tropical continents of the Old 

 World seem to have a quite different cat population. 



In Africa we have, peculiar to it, the serval with its allied species 

 or varieties, F. ridi/a, F. neglccta, F. servalina, F, ceJklogaster, and 

 F. senegaknis, as also F. caligata and C. lanea. Moreover, though the 

 serval is said to occur in Algeria, and F. caligata is a North African 

 form, the other varieties are found in Guinea, Gambia, Sierra Leone, 

 and Senegal. Africa south of the Sahara may therefore be considered 

 as richer in cats than the more northern portion of that continent, 

 especially as it is south of the Sahara that the kinds common to 

 Africa and Asia are principally found. There is reason, moreover, 

 (from the analogy of the geographical distribution of other animals) 

 to suspect that the felines now found north of the Sahara may be 

 immigrants from the more southern portion of Africa. 



Just as in America we found the West Indies to be devoid of 

 cats, so, strange to say, the great island of Madagascar, in spite of 

 its forests and numerous animal population, is similarly without a 

 single species of cat. 



In Asia we find a further subdivision possible between its northern, 

 south-western, and south-eastern portions. In the north, i.e., north 

 of the Himalayas, we have the ounce, the tiger, a lynx {F. isa- 

 he/Iina), the steppe cat {F. Manul), the leopard (in Japan), and 

 the species or varieties before described as F. microtis, F. tristis, 

 F. scripta, and F. chine nsis. 



In South-western Asia we have the lion, with certain forms 

 common to this and other Asiatic regions, such as the tiger, leopard, 

 Indian wild cat, and some others. 



In South-eastern Asia we have the clouded tiger {F. macrocelis), 

 F. 2)Ianiceps, F. hadia, F. marmorata, F. megalotis, F. aurata, F. 

 minuta, with the tiger, leopard, and others common to other 

 regions. 



The tiger, as we have seen, descends through the Indian Archi- 

 pelago, with the ^exception of Borneo, down to the island of Bali, 

 which is its furthest limit south. 



In the immense and hot island of New Guinea, in Celebes,* in 

 Australia, and in New Zealand, there is no single indigenous cat of 

 any kind. 



In Europe, we have two species of lynx and also the wild cat, 

 while within the historical period we had the lion also. Thus the 

 world may be divided according to the distribution of its cat-popu- 

 lation into two great divisions — those of the Old and New Worlds 



* Mlillcr (Verliand. over de Natuur- 

 lijke Guscliiedeiiis Zool. Lcyden, 1844, 

 Part I., Over dc Zoogdiernen van den 

 Indischen Archipel., p. 54) speaks of 

 reports received from natives of llie exist- 

 ence of a panther and wild cat in Celebes. 

 Though it is not impossible that there 

 may be a cat in Celebes, it is extremely 



unlikely that one shoiild be found in that 

 island, and Dr. A. 15. JMeyer, of Dresden, 

 writes tome tosny that the animal nie.ant 

 is ]irobably a Taradoxurus, which cer- 

 tainly exists there. He also tells me he 

 obtained two specimens of Fclis minuta 

 from Zebu, in the Philippine Islands. 

 F. minuta also inhabits Borneo. 



