550 Dr. Horsfield on the Felis Macrocelis. 



To the preceding remarks on the dimensions of the Rimau- 

 Dahan, Sir T. S. Raffles has added the following particulars re- 

 garding its manners: " Both specimens, above mentioned, 

 while in a state of confinement, were remarkable for good temper 

 and playfulness ; no domestic kitten could be more so ; they 

 were always courting intercourse with persons passing by, and 

 in the expression of their countenance, which was always open 

 and smiling, shewed the greatest delight when noticed, throwing 

 themselves on their backs and delighting in being tickled and 

 rubbed. On board the ship there was a small Musi Dog, who used 

 to play round the cage and with the animal, and it was amusing to 

 observe the playfulness and tenderness with which the latter came 

 in contact with his inferior sized companion. When fed with a 

 fowl that had died, he seized the prey, and after sucking the 

 blood and tearing it a little, he amused himself for hours in throw- 

 ing it about and jumping after it in the manner that a cat plays 

 with a mouse before it is quite dead." 



" He never seemed to look on man or children as prey but as 

 companions, and the natives assert, that when wild they live prin- 

 cipally on poultry, birds, and the smaller kinds of deer. They 

 are not found in numbers, and may be considered rather a rare 

 animal, even in the southern part of Sumatra. Both specimens 

 were procured from the interior of Beucoolen, on the banks of the 

 Bencoolen River. They are generally found in the vicinity of 

 villages, and are not dreaded by the natives, except as far as they 

 may destroy their poultry. The natives assert that they sleep and 

 often lay wait for their prey on trees ; and from this circumstance 

 they derive the name of Dahan, which signifies the fork formed 

 by the branch of a tree, across which they are said to rest, and 

 occasionally stretch themselves." 



" Both specimens constantly amused themselves in frequently 

 jumping and clinging to the top of their cage, and throwing a 

 somerset, or twisting themselves round in the manner of a Squirrel 

 when confined, the tail being extended and shewing to great ad- 

 vantage when so expanded." 



The remarks which I made during the period of the confinement 

 of the Rimau-Dahan in Exeter-Change, agree strikingly with this 



