10G 



THE WILD CAT. 



Fell* Catus L:yw. 



PLATE XVII. 



Yellowish-grey, with an interrupted longitudinal black 

 band on the back, two dusky stripes on the cheeks, and 

 numerous transverse bands of the same colour on the body 

 and limbs ; tail about half the length of the head and body, 

 cylindrical, ringed and tipped with black. 



Felis Catus. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 62 ; Desman Mammal 232 ; 

 Jenyns, Brit. Vert. Anim. 14; Bell, Brit. Quadr. 177. 



THE family of rapacious quadrupeds to which the 

 species now under consideration belongs, is com- 

 posed of animals that exhibit the form and structure 

 most obviously adapted to a life of rapine. The 

 flexibility of their spine, the muscularity and sup- 

 pleness of their limbs, their hooked and contractile 

 4s well as retractile claws, their short jaws, of 

 which the lower is strictly confined to a vertical 

 motion, their long canine teeth, and thin-edged 

 grinders, together with their irritable temperament, 



