ciiAr. XIL] 



DIFFERENT KINDS OF CATS. 



403 



(12.) THE LEOPARD CAT (Felis bengaknsis).* 



There is a very distinctly spotted cat from, northern India which 

 is thus named by Mr. Elliot in his Monograph. Either this kind 

 is subject to great variations in colour and markings, and somewhat 

 also in size, or else there are several distinct species, which cannot 

 yet be accurately defined for want of a sufficient number of 

 specimens. 



Mr. Jerdon gives as the size of his species thus named: "Length, of 

 head and body twenty-four to twenty-six inches ; tail eleven or twelve 



Fig. 172 SKULL OF F. Icngalcnsis. 



inches and more." He says it is variable, both as to the ground 

 colour and the size and boldness of its markings, though all adhere 

 to one general pattern. 



The ground hue varies from fulvous-grey to bright tawny yellow, 

 occasionally pale yellowish grey or yellowish, rarely greenish- ashy, 

 or brownish-grey ; lower parts pure white ; four longitudinal spots 

 on the forehead, and in a line with these four lines run from the 

 vertex to the shoulders, the outer one broader, the centre ones 

 narrower, and these two last are continued almost uninterruptedly 

 to the tail ; the others pass into larger, bold, irregular, unequal, 

 longitudinal spots on the shoulders, back and sides, generally 

 arranged in five or six distinct rows, decreasing and becoming 

 round on the belly ; two narrow lines run from the eye along the 



* See Jerdon' s Mammals of British 

 India, p. 105. This animal is the Felis 

 pardockroa of Dr. Gray (Pro. Zool. Soc., 

 1867, pp. 273 and 400 ; and Catalogue 

 of Carnivora, p. 28). It is also his F. 

 tcnasserimensis (Pro. Zool. Soc., 1867, 

 p. 400 ; and Catalogue, p. 28) and his 

 F. Ellioli. The last named is only 

 represented "by skulls in the British 



Museum, but these are quite similar to 

 the skulls of F. pardochroa. It is also 

 the F. mpalensis of Dr. Gray. Mr. 

 Elliot, in his Monograph, identifies his 

 F. bcngalcnsis not only with Dr. Gray's 

 above-mentioned species, but also with 

 his F. Wagati, as to which latter identi- 

 fication I hesitate to follow him. 



D D 2 



