THE LEOPARD-CAT. 12g 
Cats; no less than six specimens of é/is rubiginosa, all but 
one of which are from Ceylon, and the remaining specimens 
from Nellore in Southern India ; and forty-two skins of 
fF, bengalensis and-its allies. In going through the latter, 
while I have been struck by the great variety exhibited, I 
have been unable to trace a single character, external or 
cranial, by which the various races can be distinguished. 
There are doubtless several races, and, except that I cannot 
see how F. jerdont is to be separated, even as a variety, from 
fF javanensis of Horsfield, those accepted as kinds by Professor 
Mivart are fairly recognisable. ‘There is perhaps one to be 
added, the true Wagati of Sir W. Elliot, not the form that was 
_ (I believe erroneously) described under that name by Dr. Gray. 
The variation in dimensions is not nearly so great as in the 
Leopard, and that in the markings is less than in the Ocelot. 
“Accepting, then, the view that all the forms of Leopard-Cat 
are varieties of one species, which must be called 7e/is dengal- 
ensis, the next question for determination is, whether the Cat 
called # jerdont by Blyth is a distinct form, as it has been 
considered by Blyth and Mivart ; whether, as Jerdon sug- 
gested, it is a small race of / dengalensis, or whether, as 
stated by Mr. D. G. Elliot, it is identical with a form of 
F. rubiginosa, F. jerdont was founded by Blyth upon three 
specimens, as he writes that, ‘I first detected an adult male 
and a kitten of this species in the Museum at Madras, and 
find that there is an adult specimen also in the British 
Museum.’ There is now a second specimen in the latter 
Museum, obtained from the East India Museum, and labelled 
fF. jerdont in Mr. Blyth’s handwriting. On the stand of the 
original specimen the name /. 7erdounz has also been written by 
Mr. Blyth. The two specimens are precisely similar, and that 
first in the Museum may be taken as the type of the species. 
“The markings of this specimen, as already mentioned, 
7 K 
