CHAP. XII.] 



DIFFERENT KWDS OF CATS. 



401 



(10.) THE BAY CAT (Felts auratci)* 



This is a large one-coloured cat, and a very distinct species. It 

 is from twenty-eight to thirty-one inches long from snout to' tail, 

 while the tail measures sixteen or nineteen inches. It is a bay-red 

 ahove, paler beneath and on the sides, with a few indistinct spots on 

 the flanks. The throat is whitish, while the tip of the tail and the 

 ears, internally, are blackish. The ventral surface is reddish white, 

 spotted brown. There are two black streaks on each cheek, with a 

 pale black- edged line over the eyes. 



The pupil is said by Hodgson to be round. 



According to Mr. Jerdon it inhabits Nepal and Sikim. Dr. Gray 

 adds as habitats, Sumatra and Borneo, and one (received by the 

 Zoological Society from Amsterdam) is said to be from Sumatra. 



(11.) THE FISHING CAT (Felis viverrina).-\ 



This well-marked and very distinct species was originally described 

 by Bennett in 1833, and the type of the species is preserved in the 

 British Museum. 



Its hair is short and rather coarse. Though usually of a general 

 dark grey colour (darkest on the back), specimens may occasionally 

 be found of a reddish grey ground tint. It is always covered with 

 dark brown spots, smallest and least conspicuous on the shoulders. 

 The head and back have three or four dark brown lines going 

 lengthwise, which, however, upon the lower back and rump become 

 broken up into spots like those on the flanks and other parts. Two 

 blackish brown lines pass across the cheek, one from behind and 

 one from beneath the eye, and a line of the same hue crosses the 

 throat just below the chin. Throat and breast white, the latter 

 crossed by three or four blackish brown lines passing from shoulder 

 to shoulder. Belly same colour as flanks, spotted with blackish 

 brown in continuous lines crosswise. Inside of legs greyish white, 

 with from two to three dark brown bars crossing the upper part 

 near the body. Tail rather short, slender, same colour as the back, 

 barred above with chestnut brown, the bars going diagonally, and 

 meeting in the centre, forming a Y-shaped mark; tip chestnut 

 brown. Underneath greyish white. Length of head and body, 

 thirty to thirty- two inches ; length of tail, nine to twelve inches. 

 The skull is elongated above. The orbits are completely encircled 

 by bone. The first upper is present but is very small. 



* Fclis aurata, Jerdon's Mammals of 

 British India, p. 107 ; F. moormensis, 

 Hodgson ; F. Temmiiickii, Vigors ; 

 Lcopardus auratus, Gray ; Cat. Brit. 

 Mus., p. 12. 



t Bennett, Pro. Zool. Roc., 1833, 

 p. 68. It is described in Air. Elliot's 

 Monograph, from which the above figure 



is taken. It is also described by Jerdon 

 in his Mammals of British India, p. 103. 

 It is the animal named Vivcrritxps 

 Jjcnettii, by Dr. Gray, in his Catalogue 

 of the Garni vora, p." 17, Fig. 5, and in 

 Pro. Zool. Soc., 1867, p. 286, Fig. 5, 

 which figure has been here reproduced. 



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