BURC HELL'S CAT 441 



sufficient to justify the reference of the fossil cat to the African species 

 seems doubtful. The author goes, however, considerably further than 

 this, and concludes that the wild cats, which he is convinced existed 

 in the mountains of Ireland at no very distant date, also belonged to 

 the African species. He even suggests that an Irish reputed wild 

 cat from Donegal exhibited to the Zoological Society in 1855 by 

 Mr. Tegetmeier may have been one of the last survivors of the 

 genuine Irish wild cat. Further, he is of opinion that the majority of 

 Irish domesticated cats are descended directly from the Egyptian 

 wild cat without any of that intermixture of European wild-cat blood 

 which apparently exists in their British representatives. If these 

 conclusions are justified, we have to add another species of mammal 

 to the Irish, and thus, in its larger sense, to the British fauna. But, 

 in view of the fact that the African wild cat disappeared from every 

 other part of Europe, with the exception of Sardinia and perhaps the 

 Tuscan Maremma at a very remote date, naturalists will require 

 stronger evidence before admitting its survival to our own times in the 

 west of Ireland. 



The typical race of the species is the Egyptian wild cat, while at 

 the opposite end of the continent occurs the southern or Kafir race, 

 F. ocreata cafer. Between these two extremes several local races have 

 been identified and named ; viz. F. o. rubida from Monbutta, F. o. 

 mellandi from north-east Rhodesia, and F. o. ugandce from Uganda. A 

 description of these will be found in a paper by Mr. H. Schwann 

 published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 1904, 

 ser. 7, vol. xiii. p. 421. The Sardinian race has been named 

 F. o. sarda. 



BURCHELL'S CAT 

 (Felts nigripes] 



As the smallest representative of the Old World cats, this 

 diminutive South African species can scarcely claim a place among 

 eame animals, although it is nevertheless inadvisable that it should 



r> CD 



be passed over without mention. According to the description given 

 by Mr. R. I. Pocock on p. 669 of the Zoological Society's Proceedings 

 for 1907, this species when alive, apart from colour and pattern, is 

 remarkably like a diminutive domesticated cat, especially as regards 

 the head and face. It has, however, proportionately shorter limbs, 



