420 



THE CAT. 



[CHAP. xii. 



and some of these have the heels more or less brown or hlackish on 

 the outer edges." 



The tail is long. 



Pale varieties of this cat seem to have heen mistakenly described 

 as identical with the jungle cat (Fells Chans} of India, and also with 

 the Indian, Felis torquata. 



(37.) THE WILD CAT (Felis cat us) has been already sufficiently 

 described in the first chapter. 



(38.) THE INDIAN WILD CAT (Felis torquata). * 



This cat has much resemblance to the European wild cat, but it 

 is more fulvous and less striped, and is more slender in its build. 

 Length of the body and head from sixteen to eighteen inches. 

 Length of tail, ten to eleven inches. 

 Habitat : India. 



(39.) THE COMMON JUNGLE CAT (Felis Chans) A 



The common jungle-cat is of a yellowish-grey colour, more or less 

 dark and unspotted, approaching to rufous on the sides of the neck 

 and abdomen, where it unites with the lower parts ; a dark stripe 

 extends from the eyes to the muzzle. The ears are slightly tufted, 

 rufous black externally, white internally. 



The limbs have two or three dark stripes internally, and they are 

 occasionally faintly marked externally also. 



The tail is short, reaching to the heel, and more or less annulated 

 with black most so in the young. 



Length of head and body, twenty-six inches ; of tail, nine to ten 

 inches. 



Pupil, oblong erect. 



Skull with the orbits open behind, and with the upper premolar 

 distinctly developed. 



This cat ranges all over India, from the Himalayas to Cape 

 Comorin and Ceylon, and from the sea level to 8000 feet elevation. 



(40.) THE ORNATE JUNGLE CAT (Felis ornata). J 



This cat "is at once well known from all the other Indian 

 species by the dimensions of the tail and the small size and equal 

 distribution of the spots. In this respect it resembles the Hunting 



* F. Cuvier, Mammiferes ; Felis in- 

 eonspicua ; Gray, Pro. Zool. Soc., 1867, 

 p. 273 ; and Catalogue of Carnivora, 

 p. 31. 



f Jerdon, Mammals of India, p. Ill ; 

 F. (Lynchnus) erylhrotis, Hodgson ; F. 

 Jacquemontii, Is. Geoffroy St. Hilairc ; 

 Chaus Jacquemontii, Gray, Pro. Zool. 

 Soc., 1867, p. 275, and Brit. Mus. Cat, 

 p. 34; Chaus Catalonyx, Gray, Brit. 



Mus. Cat., p. 36. See also Elliot's 

 Monograph. 



Gray, Illustrations of Indian Zoo- 

 logy and Pro. Zool. Soc., 1867, p. 401 ; 

 Chaus ornatus, Gray, Pro. Zool. Soc., 

 1867, p. 275; and Brit. Mus. Cat, 

 p. 35 ; F. torquata, Jerdon's Mammals 

 of Brit. India, p. 110. See also Elliot's 

 Monograph. 



