62 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



the sides, and white below ; like its congeners, it is 

 ornamented with open blotches, which are black 

 externally and light brown internally. The throat 

 is crossed by a black line; there are the sa^ne facial 

 stripes, the same solid black spots on the limbs, and 

 the same rings, or semi-ri^igs, on the long black tail. 

 Some naturalists indeed may be inclined to rank the 

 Felis sciHpta as little more than a northern race of 

 the F. m^armorata. In any case, the three species 

 just described together form a most interesting 

 natural group, standing quite apart from the majority 

 of the Asiatic cats. 



Recent zoological research has indicated a yet 

 further development of this wonderful scheme of 

 blood-relationship. Closely allied to these three 

 animals is the handsome Fontanier's cat i^F. t^'istis) 

 long known only from an imperfect skin purchased 

 in Pekin many years ago by M. Fontanier. This 

 beast is of a bluish grey colour, blotched with 

 blackish brown (paler grey in the centre of the 

 blotches) ; it also has solid spots on the legs, 

 barred cheeks and forehead, and a longish tail 

 ringed with black. The "Nepal Tiger Cat" 

 which died in the Zoo previous to 1855 may 

 have been this species, judging from a figure 

 published by Knight in his "Museum of Animated 

 Nature"; if so, it must have been a most valuable 

 acquisition to the menagerie, though probably at 

 that date the extreme rarity of the specimen 



