Classification of existing Felidie. 3^1 



Leone to tlie Ituri forest, a species wliicli appears to be 

 more nearly related to Prionailurus than the Asiatic repre- 

 sentative of the geuuSj P. temmincki. The first npper pre- 

 molar is markedly larger, when retained, than in P. tem- 

 mincki ; the external pterygoid crest is less well developed, 

 especially posteriorly, where it exhibits a distinct notch 

 before its spiuiform termination ; the occipital area is not so 

 wide and shows a shallow emarginatiou on eacli side, and 

 the ridge below the masseteric fossa of the majidible is not 

 so large. 



(2) The Asiatic species, assigned to Catopuma by Severtzow 

 and to Pyrofelis by Gray, has the first upper premolar 

 minute^ when retained, the postorbital processes are longer, 

 the external pterygoid crest very well developed, especially 

 posteriorly, where it ends in a spine but exhibits no notch ; 

 the occipital area is very wide and has no distinct lateral 

 emarginatiou, and the crest below the masseteric fossa is 

 more salient. 



Genus Zibethailurus, Severtz. 



Zibethailurus, SeA'ertzow, 1858, p. 387 : type vii-errina, Benn. 

 Vicerriceps, Gvay, 1867, p. 268 ; type viverrina. 



Distr. India and Ceylon to Southern China, Formosa, and 

 Tenasserim. 



Medium-sized cats with small, rounded, white-spotted 

 ears, moderately large rhiuarium, and feet provided with 

 small claw-sheaths and webs of moderate depth. 



The skull may be described as a modification of the 

 Prionailurus-tjije, many, but not all, of the differences being 

 attributable to its accommodation to great development of 

 the masticatory muscles. The sagittal crest is completed by 

 the coalescence of the temporal ridges at a much earlier age, 

 and the postorbital constriction forms in adult and subadult 

 specimens a long emaigination of the frontal on each side, 

 instead of an angular notch immediately behind the process 

 as in Prionailurus. Similarly, the lateral edges of the 

 occipital area are more deeply emar^inate and the coronoid 

 of the mandible is broader at the summit. 



The asceudiug branch of the premaxiila is broader than 

 in Prionailurus. The inferior edge of the orbit is thicker 

 and the anteorbital excrescences very conspicuous, and the 

 cheek between the alveolar boi'der and the orbit is relatively 

 lower. The suborbital edge of the palate is less conspicu- 

 ously notched. The external pterygoid crest is represented 

 by a small triangular ridge above the hamular, being 



