124 Lloyd's natural history. 



Viverriceps bennettii, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 268; id., 

 Cat. Carniv. Mamm. Brit. Mus. p. 16 (1869). 



{Plate XL) 



Characters. — Coming under the denomination of a " spotted " 

 Cat, this species may be distinguished from the larger Indian 

 forms with the same general type of coloration by its inferior 

 dimensions, and the sharp ridge formed by the nasal bones of 

 the skull. Superior in size to the undermentioned Leopard- 

 Cat and Rusty-spotted Cat, it differs from both by the grizzled 

 grey fur of the upper-parts being marked with dark brown spots 

 formed by broken-up longitudinal lines, passing into small 

 blackish spots on the hind-quarters. The short and thick tail 

 is marked above with dark brown bars, and is about one-third 

 the length of the head and body. The nasal region of the 

 skull is remarkably narrow, and the socket of the eye gener- 

 ally completely surrounded by bone. The anterior upper 

 pre-molar tooth is very small. Length of head and body, from 

 30 to 32 inches; of tail, 9 to 12 inches. Specimens are occa- 

 sionally met with in which the ground-colour of the fur is 

 reddish-grey. 



The specimen herewith figured, which was described by 

 Jardine under the name of Felis himalayana, and has the spots 

 more confluent into streaks than is generally the case, was 

 identified by Dr. Gray with his so-called Pardalina warwicki. 

 The latter, although really identical with the South American 

 Geoffroy's Cat, described in the sequel, was supposed to come 

 from Asia ; and the similarity between the coloration of the 

 present species and that of the latter is not a little remarkable. 



Distribution. — India, Ceylon, Lower Burma, Tenasserim, 

 Formosa, and Southern China. In India the species has been 

 recorded from the valley of the Indus, the outer ranges of the 

 Himalaya, the Nipal Terai, Assam, Bengal, and it, perhaps, 



