in others well-marked and about an inch in length on the sides. 

 From 6 to 8 black lines run from the forehead to the nape, breaking 

 up into shorter lines and spots on the shoulders, but continued ai 

 lines of spots down the back. Cheeks greyish white, usually with 

 two well-marked horizontal black or brown cheek-stripes. Several 

 cross bands more or less distinct on the throat and fore neck. 

 Markings on limbs variable ; sometimes there are none, but usually 

 there are bars or lines of spots outside the thigh and ^forearm, and 

 the usual two bars inside the latter. Lower parts spotted. Tail 

 more or less distinctly ringed with black above. Underfur brown, 

 only the longer hairs with a long whitish portion near the end 

 and a black tip ; in the spots all the terminal part is black. Feet 

 brown beneath. 



Dimensions. Head and body 30 inches, tail 10 1 (or with hair 

 11|), height 15; weight 17 Ibs. The above are the measurements 

 and weight of a male, but some specimens are larger. Kelaart 

 gives head and body 34|. A large skull (I have seen even larger) 

 measures 4*85 inches in basal length and 3*5 across the zygomatic 

 arches ; another 4*7 by 3-6 ; a small but quite adult skull 4-2 and 

 3-05. 



Distribution. Bengal, probably Orissa, and the Indo-Grangetic 

 plain generally, extending as far as Sind, whence I have a good 

 specimen procured by Mr. H. E. Watson near Sehwan. Unknown 

 in the peninsula of India, except on the Malabar coast, where it 

 occurs from Mangalore to Cape Comorin, but not, so far as is known, 

 to the northward near Bombay. This species occurs also in Ceyloa. 

 Along the base of the Himalayas the fishing cat is met with as far 

 west as Nepal, and ranges throughout Burma, Southern China, 

 and the Malay Peninsula. So far as is known, F. viverrina does 

 not appear to be found in the Malayan islands, but it is said to 

 exist in Formosa. 



Habits. This species haunts marshy thickets near rivers, swamps, 

 or tidal creeks, and differs from most cats in feeding upon fish. 

 It also, according to Buchanan Hamilton, eats freshwater mollusca 

 such as Ampullaria arid Unio, both of which abound in many of 

 the Indian swamps. Hodgson found that one specimen brought 

 to him had eaten a large snake. The fishing cat, however, like 

 other members of the genus, doubtless kills such mammals and 

 birds as it can. It is said to be very ferocious^ both in Bengal 

 and in Malabar it has been known to kill calves, and sheep are not 

 unfrequently destroyed by it. Mr. Baker wrote from Malabar 

 that it often killed pariah dogs, and he had known young infants 

 carried off by it from their parents' huts. A still more remarkable 

 instance of its ferocity is mentioned by Blyth, a newly caught 

 male of this species in his possession having killed a tame young 

 leopardess of twice its own size, after breaking through the partition 

 that separated the cages. 



Frequently F. viverrina is savage in confinement, but Blyth 

 says he had several males perfectly tame and considered this a 

 particularly tamable species. 



