Classification of existing Felidse. 333 



tlie larynx, which is not hekl close up to tlie base of 

 the skull. Feet like those of the Felinse. 

 Geuus Panthera for leo, tiyris, pardus^ onca. 

 ,, Uncia for uncia. 



The Genera of the Subfamily Felinas. 



Genus Felis, Linn. 



Felis, Linn., 1758; type cuius, Liuu. (domestic cat). 



Cuius, Fitz., 1855, p. 265 ; tjpe catus, Liun. 



Caiolynx, Severtzow, 1858, p. 385 ; type catus, Linu. 



Otailurus, Severtzow, 1858, p. 388; type megalotis, Miill. (domestic 



cat from Timor). 

 Chaus, Gray, 1843, pp. 44-45 ; type chaus, Guld. { = lt/bicus, Gray). 



Distr. Central and Southern Europe ; South Asia to 

 Burma; Africa apart from the western forested area. 



Very small to medium-sized cats w^ith long [ocreata) or 

 moderately long {chaus) tails, usually short broad heads, 

 I'educed rhinarium, large, pointed, sometirnes pencilled ears, 

 never showing the white spot, vertically contracted ocular 

 pupil and narrow paws with comparatively poorly developed 

 claw-sheaths and moderately extensive emarginate webs. 



Miller's full description ^ of the skull of F. silvestris and 

 his comparison of the skull of F. ocreata [sarda] with it 

 embody most of the characters of the typical species of this 

 genus and make a repetition of the facts unnecessary. 



The species may be referred to three categories : — 



(1) Medium-sized cats from Europe, S.W. Asia, and 

 Africa, e. g. F. silvestris, ocreata, ornata, and caudata, which 

 are grouped closely round the typical form of the genus, 

 F. catus, and the other domesticated breed, F. torquata f. 



(2) Larger species ranging from Burma, through India, 

 parts of Central Asia to South Africa, e. g. F. chaus 

 (subspecies furax etc.) and F. shawiana, with the skull 

 longer, narrower, less arched, and the zygomata less salient 

 than in the typical forms. These constitute the genus 

 Chaus. of Gray, defined by the comparative shortness of the 

 tail. 



(3) The very small South-African species F. nigripes^ 

 which in many of its cranial characters is like a dwarfed form 



* Cat. Mamm. Centr. Europe, pp. 458-468 (1912). 



t Miller admits three species of European cats, namely, F. silvestris, 

 F. sarda, and F. arjrius, F. sarda, however, appears to me to he at most 

 a subspecies of F. ocreata, and there is no evidence that F. agrius, from 

 Crete, was based upon anything but feral examples of the striped 

 domestic cat (see P.Z. S. 1907, pp. 143-168). 



