Cuhs of Lions and of Pumas. 413 



Unfortunately the hair on the posterior part of tlie liead and 

 the anterior part of tlie nape is rubbed off, so it is impossible 

 to say for certain that the stripes extended right over this 

 region. That they probably did so, however, is attested by 

 the presence of four cervical stripes upon the posterior area of 

 the nape. The admedians of these, though narrow and faint, 

 can be traced on to the middle line between the shoulders. 

 The externals, on the other hand, are broad and very distinct, 

 the one on the right side being continued by a well-marked 

 suprascapular stripe, a stripe which is persistent in so many 

 of the smaller species of the genus Felis. On the sides of 

 the neck outside the external cervical stripe there are some 

 darker and fainter elongated spots or abbreviated stripes 

 running downwards towards the throat and chest. On the 

 shoulders below the suprascapular stripe there is also a large 

 transversely elongated spot, and below this some smaller 

 spots which become lost in the fuscous tint of the fore leg. 

 On the lumbar and sacral regions of the body there are three 

 very definite rows of large spots showing a decided tendency 

 to coalesce into longitudinal stripes. On the sides of the 

 body below the external of these (the dorso-lateral stripe) 

 there are about three rows of large spots of irregular shape 

 and sometimes more or less fused, es])ecially on the abdominal 

 region, where they tend to run into short zigzag abbreviated 

 stripes. The thighs are spotted like the sides of the body. 

 On the thoracic region, both dorsally and laterally, the spots 

 are less symmetrically arranged than upon the abdominal 

 region, and the posterior part of the thoracic region is 

 marked dorsally with a pair of very large abbreviated stripes, 

 representing two or three fused spots, and inclining obliquely 

 backwards from a point close to the median dorsal line. The 

 greater part of the tail is lost ; but the one inch of its basal 

 portion which persists exhibits a large dorsal spot. 



The spots are all solid and of nearly uniform intensity. 

 The example in the Museum of the Clifton Zoological 

 Society differs from the one above described principally in 

 the complete absence of spots and stripes from the top of the 

 head and the nape of the neck, in the tawny hue of the legs, 

 and in the noticeably fainter tint of the spots on the sides of 

 the body as compared with those of the dorsal area. On 

 the head there is a short stripe above the inner corner of 

 the eye, a narrow stripe descending backwards from the 

 outer corner of the eye beneath the ear, and a brown patch 

 above the coi'ner of the mouth. The back of the ear is jet- 

 black. Extending along the dorsal area from the shoulder 

 to the root of the tail there are three rows of solid spots, 

 those of the median or spinal row forming a more definite 



21)" 



