Classification of existing Felidae. 343 



and two-rooted, with a conical pointed crown, carryin;? -a 

 sm ill anterior cusp. The first premolar of the lower jaw 

 has an almost steeple-shaped crown higher than its basal 

 length and than the apex of the succeeding tooth, and 

 blocking the space between the first and second up])er 

 premolars ; and the lower canines, when the jaw is closed, 

 project considerably above the lower edge of the anterior 

 nares, their tips being approximately on a level with the 

 summit of the coronoid process. 



The external characters of this species are known to me 

 only from skins, and I am unable to give any particulars 

 regarding the feet, rhinarium, and other points. 



Genus Neofelis, Gray. 

 Neofelis, Gray, 1867, p. 265; type nebulosa { = macrocelis). 



One species hitherto admitted with several subspecies, 

 possibly deserving higher rank. 



Distr. Eastern Himalayas to Borneo. 



Large cats with head, body, and tail long and the legs 

 short ; with ears rounded and rhinarium and feet scarcely 

 differing from those of Panthera. 



Skull recalling in general features that of a small example 

 of Panthera pardus, especially in the shortness and wide 

 separation of the frontal and malar postorbital processes, the 

 interiorly attenuated maxilla, the straightness of its nasal 

 edge, the width and exposure of the nasals from the lateral 

 aspect, the inclination of the nares, relative proportions of 

 the mandibular teeth, etc., but differing in the greater poste- 

 rior width of the nasals, the thicker, more salient inferior 

 edge of the orbit, carrying a distinct preorbital thickening, 

 the evenly ovate antero-lateral border of the mesopterygoid 

 fossa and the s|)ecial modifications of the jaws, the mandible 

 being greatly elevated anteriorly, with the symphysial region 

 nearly vertical, flat in its upper two-thirds and abruptly 

 curved backwards below, the incisive border being raised 

 high above the external edge of the alveolus of the lower 

 canine — as a result of which modifications the upper jaw is 

 thrust up so that when the mouth is closed the alveolar lines 

 of the maxillary and mandibular cheek-teeth are widely 

 divergent in front, leaving a deep and long space behind the 

 canines, with concomitant reduction or suppression of the 

 first upper pi-emolar and enormous elongation of the upper 

 canine. 



The occipital area is remarkably triangular and pointed 



