24 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



The name Felis servalina was proposed in 1839 

 by Mr. Ogilby, the species being founded on an 

 imperfect skin received from Sierra Leone. Little 

 was known about the animal for many years ; but 

 on June I5th, 1874, an example was trapped at 

 Kisembo, in South-west Africa, and brought 

 home alive by Mr. Shield, who presented it 

 to the London Zoological Gardens. A second 

 example was received in the Zoo in 1876, 

 having been presented by Lieutenant V. Lovett 

 Cameron ; and a third was purchased in 1 880 for 

 exhibition in the same famous menagerie. In 1889 

 a fourth servalina was living in the Amsterdam 

 Zoological Gardens. A specimen of this very rare 

 cat received from Uganda was added to the 

 Regents Park collection in June, 1898, and still 

 flourishing in the small cat's house. This example 

 is extremely amiable and fond of being stroked. 

 Its fur seems to lack the greyish tinge often seen 

 in the true serval but the necklace and other 

 markings are well defined. 



The above account practically completes our 

 present knowledge of the serval and servaline 

 cats (if indeed the latter be distinct) ; enough, 

 however, has been said to show that even the 

 obscurer animals of Africa well repay the attention 

 of the student, not only on account of the strange- 

 ness of their external appearance, or the variability 

 of their colouring, but also because an examination 

 of living individuals imparts a good education in 

 animal psychology. In the course of this Essay 



