3<3 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



a large African example taped about four feet three 

 inches from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, 

 measured in the flesh ; the tail itself was about 

 thirteen inches long. The face is short and some- 

 what rounded ; the ears are pointed and slightly 

 curved (with concavity anterior) so that the tips 

 point directly upwards ; they are beautifully tufted 

 with pencils of black hair. The muzzle is bisected 

 by a cleft which, forming a hare lip, passes upwards 

 between the nostrils for about an inch, recalling a 

 similar groove in the muzzle of the thylacine of 

 Tasmania. 1 The legs are longer than in the true 

 cats ; the tail is longer than in the true lynxes, and 

 slightly thicker in the middle than at either end. 



The coloration of the caracal is variable, ranging 

 from reddish to dark brown, and there are probably 

 individual differences also. The ear tufts are, 

 however, always black ; but it seems to have hitherto 

 escaped the notice of naturalists that these black 

 ears are often frosted over with white, thus in some 

 specimens imparting a grey appearance to the pinna. 



In several individuals recently studied alive by the 

 writer the muzzle was purplish suffused with black, 

 and a more or less well-defined dark line bisected 

 the forehead, like Burchell's linea faciem percurrens 

 in the Cape hunting-dog. The roots of the ears 

 were heavily semi-circled in black posteriorly, and 



1. Rerishaw: "More Natural History Essays," pp. 216-232. The 

 thylacine is fully described and figured from a specimen then living in the 

 Zoological Gardens. 



