140 LLOYD’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
Felis melanura, Ball, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1844, p. 128. 
Felis albescens, Pucheran, VO age Vénus, Zool. p. 137 (1855). 
Felis picta, Severtzoff, Rev. Mag. Zool. ser. 2, vol. x. p. 194 
(1858). 
Felts grisea, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 270. 
felis pardoides, Gray, Proc. 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 richer 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 small 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. 
