140 



LLOYDS NATURAL HISTORY. 



Ft/is melanuray Ball, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1844, p. T2S. 



Felts albescens, Pucberan, Voyage Venus, Zool. p. 137 (1S55). 



Felis picta, Severtzoff, Rev. Mag. Zool. ser. 2, vol. x. p. 194 



(1853). 



Felis grisea, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 270. 

 Felis pardoides, Gray, Troc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 403. 



{Plates XV., XVI.) 

 Characters. — Even more variable in coloration than the 

 Leopard-Cat (to some varieties of which it approximates in 

 hue and markings), the small South American species known 

 as the Ocelot is one of the most difficult members of the 

 whole family to describe adequately. The markings take the 

 form of obliquely placed spots elongated into streaks ; such 

 spots being bordered with black, and having the enclosed area 

 generally of a darker and rieher hue than the general ground- 

 colour of the fur. The effect thus produced is very rich and 

 striking ; and it will not fail to be noticed that this type of 

 coloration is only a modification of that obtaining in the 

 Jaguar, the rosettes of the latter being elongated into streaks, 

 and the bordering spots united into unbroken lines. 



Including some of the varieties, the ground-colour of the 

 Ocelot may be described as ranging from tawny-yellow to red- 

 dish-grey ; the dark markings running into chain-like streaks 

 and blotches, generally forming oblique elongated spots, sever- 

 ally bordered with black, and enclosing an area more or less 

 darker than the ground-colour. The head and limbs are 

 marked by smill solid black spots, while there are two black 

 stripes on the cheek, and one or two dark transverse bars on 

 the inner surface of the fore-leg. The tail may be either 

 ringed or marked with dark bars on its upper surface ; and 

 the under-parts and inner surfaces of the limbs are whitish. 

 The pupil of the eye contracts to a vertical slit ; and in the 

 skull the ring of bone round the orbit is incomplete behind. 



