THE CLOUDED TIGER 45 



naturalist, but was also the discoverer of a rare and 

 beautiful cat — the clouded tiger of the East Indies 

 and South- Eastern Asia/ 



Standing- about seventeen inches hig^h at the 

 shoulder, with a total length of some five feet and a 

 half, the clouded tiger [Felis nebulosa) — arimau (or 

 rimau) dahan of the Malays, pungmar and sarchack 

 of the Lepchas — is remarkable for its short legs, for 

 its elongated neck and body, and for the generous 

 proportions of its thick and handsome tail. The 

 skull is much lengthened from before backwards and 

 compressed laterally, while the vertex is so flat that 

 face and forehead are almost on a level. The ears 

 are short and rounded ; the eyes are yellowish in youth 

 and brownish when adult, being beautifully stippled 

 save at the circumference with blackish atoms. The 

 ground colour of this tiger is greyish or yellowish 

 brown, fading to whitish below. A few solid black 

 spots occur on the head and limbs; there are always 

 two black streaks on each side of the face, passing 

 upwards and outwards from the outer angle of the 

 eye and that of the mouth respectively. The neck is 

 longitudinally banded with black, and a ribbon of 

 the same colour crosses the throat. The ornamenta- 

 tion of the body is very handsome, consisting of a 

 series of elongated vertical rings (better defined 

 posteriorly than in front) and smartly differentiated 



1 The clouded tiger living in the London Zoological Gardens in 1880 

 was most ap{)r()priately exliibited in tliis building, a living nieiuento of 

 the illustrious founder of tlie Society. 



