412 



CARNIVORES. 



cat, with relatively longer legs. The pupil of the eye is circular in ordinary light, 

 and the length of the tail usually varies from about one-third to rather less than 

 one-half that of the head and body. Usually the head and body measure together 

 from 24 to 26 inches, while the tail has a length of from 11 to 12 inches, or rather 

 more. Although this species comes under the denomination of spotted cats, with the 

 spots much longer than broad and without light centres, yet the amount of variation 

 is so great that it is almost impossible to give a description that will hold good for 

 all the varieties. The ground-colour of the upper-parts is, however, very generally 

 some shade of pale tawny, varying from rufous to greyish ; while the spots, which 

 have a more or less marked tendency to form longitudinal lines, may be either 

 wholly black, or partly black and partly brown. The spots extend over the under- 



THE LEOPARD-CAT (\ nat. size). 



parts and limbs and the upper part of the tail; although the tip of the tail is 

 barred. Four distinct longitudinal stripes on the forehead give a characteristic 

 physiognomy to the head, these stripes being generally continued in a more or less 

 distinct manner along the back. 



This cat is exclusively a forest-dwelling species, and is found in many parts of 

 India, such as the outer Himalaya, as far westward as Simla, the greater part of 

 Lower Bengal, the Western Ghats on the Bombay side of the peninsula, and the 

 Wynaad and Travancore districts in Madras. According, however, to Mr. Blanford, 

 it is probably unknown in Ceylon. Eastward of the Himalaya its range includes 

 Assam, Burma, the Malay Peninsula, the southern part of China, and the islands of 

 Borneo, Sumatra, and Java, as well as the Philippines. 



It would be tedious to indicate the different varieties of this cat, but it may be 

 observed that, according to the writer last mentioned, while one set of varieties are 

 characterised by the tendency to a grey tinge in the ground-colour, others display 



