THE CLOUDED TIGER 47 



suffusion has practically changed from spots to 

 stripes ! The true tiger (Felis tigiHs) of the 

 Bengal jungles still shows occasional double stripes, 

 which, on Elmers theory, are but altered semi- 

 rings. 



The skull of the clouded tiger is remarkable for 

 the very long canine teeth (half as long as the palate) ; 

 they are conical, sharp-edged behind, and minutely 

 serrated, recalling the terrible weapons of the sabre- 

 toothed tigers, now happily extinct, which in Pliocene 

 times ravaofed Britain and in Eocene times ranofed 

 France. 



Widely distributed in the Malayan region, the 

 clouded tiger not only inhabits the islands of Java, 

 Sumatra and Borneo, but also occurs on the mainland 

 in Siam and Burmah, in Hainan and Sikkim; in this 

 last district it appears to be fairly common, although 

 from its nocturnal habits it is but seldom seen.-^ In 

 Borneo the skin of this animal has been extensively 

 used by the Dyaks. Temminck, writing in 1827, 

 observes that he had seen some jackets made of its 

 hide and bordered with several rows of white shells. 

 " La peau de ce Tigre parait leur servir de vetement 

 principal." Mr, Hose has noted that the Kayans 

 and Keniaks of Borneo use the skin of the Fe/is 

 nebttlosa for war cloaks and its long canine teeth as 



1 The clouded tiger inhabits even the lesser East Indian Islands. 

 Two young ones, now in tlie Leyden Museum, were obtained on the Batoe 

 Islands between Padang and Anjerbangies in 1877. 



