— 240 — 



has ever been found in East Africa east of Uganda (') nor in South 

 Africa. Bv the statements made above the knowledge about the 

 occurrence of the Servaline Cats has been widened, and the area 

 of their known distribution has been considerablv extended, 

 expeciallv towards south east. Nevertheless there appears to be no 

 spécimen of this kind with certaintv reported from anv place 

 outside the West African forest région, or, perhaps better 

 expressed, outside the countries inhabited bv niembers of the 

 West African forest-fauna. On the whole I havc thus the pleasure 

 of agreeing with Pocock (1907) when he expresses the opinion 

 « that Felis servalina occurs on the fringe of the West African 

 forest région », and I think that this view has been strengthened by 

 the new facts. 



Felis {Lcptaiiitrus) serval on the other hand with its races is 

 a steppe animal, and it belongs thus to the East-South African 

 fauna in a broad sensé. This does not, of course, prohibit that 

 Servals occur within the limits of the countrv which generallv is 

 called « West Africa », f. i. in Belgian Congo, because steppe 

 countrv is to be tound there as well. 



It is in this connection perhaps worth to observe, that the 

 Servals of South Africa {F. s. capeiisis) and those of East Africa 

 {F.s.Hindei) are the most large-spotted, while the races described 

 from Elgon {F. s. Kempi) and Portuguese East Africa {F.s.bfirae) 

 hâve smaller spots. There mav thus be some connection between 

 the type of the landscape and the pattern resp. the size of the spots. 

 It appears thus with our présent knowledge almost undeniable, 

 that reallv géographie snb.species of Servals exist and that thev mav 

 be distinguished bv their coulour pattern, at least partlv. 



Mr. Ayi.mer's above quoted note does not need to speak against 

 this, even if his two kittens are from the same litter. As the paren- 

 tage is not known there is namelv no proof against a hvpothese that 

 thèse kittens really are hvhriils between a Serval and a Servaline 

 Cat. As the aflinitv between thèse two animais is very close, even 

 if thev are, as I believe, raciallv distinct, there is no improbabilitv 



(') Except ihi- i|uite problemalic i-ecmd Iroiii Monibasa quoted abuve. 



