174 Lloyd's natural history. 



ceeded to dislodge her. As soon as I was within six or seven 

 feet of the place, she sprang straight at my face, over the Dogs' 

 heads. Had I not struck her in mid-air as she leaped at me, 

 I should probably have got some severe wounds. As it was, 

 she fell with her back half-broken among the Dogs, who, with 

 my assistance, despatched her. I never saw an animal fight so 

 desperately, or one so difficult to kill." 



XXXII. PALLAS'S CAT. FELIS MANUL. 



Fe//s mamtl, Pallas, Reise, vol. iii. p. 692 (1776); Elliot, 

 Monogr. Felidoe, pi. x. (187S-S3); Blatfford, Mamm. 

 Brit. India, p. 83 (1888). 

 Felis nigripectus, Hodgson, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. xi. 

 p. 276 (1842). 

 Characters. — Somewhat smaller than the domestic species, 

 Pallas's Cat is easily recognised by the abundant coat of long 

 and soft hair with which it is clothed, the short ringed tail, and 

 the few transverse dark bars on the hinder part of the body. 

 General colour of fur pale whitish, with some slight black 

 markings on the chest and upper parts of the limbs j a few 

 narrow black transverse bars, widely separated from one 

 another across the loins; tail ringed with black. A white 

 streak, bordered both above and below with black, runs 

 obliquely downwards and backwards from behind the eye ; 

 while there is also a black mark behind each ear. Skull very 

 broad, and much elevated in the region of the eyes; nasal 

 bones very narrow posteriorly, and suddenly expanded at their 

 terminal third ; anterior pre-molar apparently wanting. Length 

 of head and body, about 21 inches ; of tail, 10 inches. The 

 hairs are yellowish-grey at the base, yellowish in the middle, 

 and white at the tips. 



Distribution. — Tibet, extending westwards into Ladak, and 

 northwards through Mongolia to Siberia. In beds of Pleisto- 



