30 FELID-E. 



streak and spot of the body rather darker yellow, and the rings on the 

 end of the tail are black. One of these, brought from Macassar by 

 Mr. Wallace, is rather darker than the other, and has the bands on 

 the legs nearly black, like the Tunisian specimen. The other, from 

 Kordofan, is rather paler, and the bands on the legs, like those on the 

 body, are yellow. 



Very nearly allied to these, and probably only a variety, is a small 

 nearly white Cat, marked with pale yellow stripes, sent from Egypt 

 by Mr. Christie, which I described in the ' Magazine of Natural 

 History' for 1837 under the name of Felis pulchella. It differs 

 greatly from all the other specimens of F. maniculata in the very 

 large size of the ears ; but it resembles them so closely that I am 

 almost inclined to believe that it may be only a very pale variety of 

 that species. The size of the ears may have been produced by the 

 negligence of the stuffer ; but that can only be decided by the exami- 

 nation of fresh specimens. Mr. Blyth thinks that this specimen is 

 only " an Egyptian variety of the Common Cat " (P. Z. S. 1863, 

 p. 184, note) ; but I cannot agree with that theory. 



The three large specimens in the British Museum of these Cats 

 come from South Africa. The largest was received from M. Ver- 

 reaux, the next largest from the Zoological Society's Museum under 

 the name of Felis caffra {Felis nigrij^es of Burchell), the other from 

 Dr. Andrew Smith as Felis caffra. 



The first two of these are dark grey, with distinct dark, blackish 

 bands and spots. Dr. Smith's specimen is much paler, yellow, with 

 very indistinct rather darker yellow bands and spots, and very broad 

 black bands on the legs. 



The large specimens {Felis marginata) from Tunis and Tangiers 

 are very like the largest dark one from the Cape. 



A rather small specimen, received from Mr. Brandt of Hamburg 

 as F. calignfa from Africa, is only obscurely banded, is peculiar in 

 the tail being black at the tip for about an inch, and in only having 

 three or four very obscure narrow cross bands across the upper sur- 

 face of the hinder two-thirds of the length of the tail. 



A small specimen, very obscurely banded and having a redder fur . 

 with darker red streaks on the back, was received from Capt. Speke, 

 marked " Menessa." 



I suspect that what have been called the African F. cJiaus may be 

 only pale varieties of F. caligata ; at least I have not seen any 

 specimens of the triie F. chaus from Africa. M. F. Cuvier's figures 

 of F. chaus from Egypt are doubtful ; for he describes the body and 

 head as being 2 feet 4 inches long, and the tail 9 inches long ; but 

 the figure represents the tail as two-fifths, while the description 

 represents it as being only one-fourth of the entire length. In the 

 same manner the Chat aux oreilles rouges, figured by M. F. Cuvier, 

 Mamm. Lithogr., from a specimen from India, is said to measure 

 24 inches from the end of the nose to the base of the tail, and its 

 tail to measure 10 inches ; and in the figure the tail is very nearly 

 half the length of the head and body. Can both or either of these 

 figures represent F. chaus, which is known by its short tail ? 



