80 FELID.E. 



in Ceylon, but this I doubt ; its occurrence is not mentioned by 

 Kelaart, Blyth, or Tennant, nor is there a specimen from the island 

 in the British Museum, which is well supplied with Cingalese 

 Mammalia. 



Varieties. In this species the tendency to variation in markings 

 appears to reach its maximum so far as Asiatic cats are concerned, 

 though the American ocelot is at least equally variable. The 

 variation is shown by the number of synonyms this animal has 

 received, and by the great difference in the number of the species 

 into which it has been divided by different naturalists. 



After examining the fine series of skins and skulls in the Bi'itish 

 Museum I have come to the same conclusion as Blyth and Jerdon, 

 and class all the various races as varieties of a single species. As 

 in many other cats, there is a grey phase, to which belong F. nijyal- 

 ensis, F. jerdoni, F. javanensis, F. chinensis, and a rufous phase. 

 According to Blyth (Cat. Mam. A. S. p. 60, and P. Z. S. 1863, 

 p. 184, note), some of the grey forms, and especially F. nijMJensis, 

 are hybrids with domestic cats. There is considerable variation, 

 too, both in size and in the length of the tail. 



The following are the principal named varieties : — - 



The ordinary Himalayan type, F. panUchroa of Hodgson, has 

 pale rufescent back and sides, with spots usually subangular or 

 angular in form, each spot black behind and brown in front. In 

 some specimens the spots are large and almost triangular with the 

 points directed backwards, iji others the spots are simply elongate 

 ovals and of small size. F. nipalensis is only a grey phase, and, as 

 already remarked, was perhaps founded on a hybrid. There is, 

 however, one variety unnamed, the specimen of it in the British 

 Museum having been received in that collection from the East 

 India Museum after the death of Dr. Gray. In this the black 

 spots tend to form longitudinal lines and to enclose bands of rich 

 rufous brown between them, the bands being more or less broken 

 up into large rosettes, dark brown inside and bordered by imperfect 

 black rings ; the pale rufescent ground-colour occupies but a small 

 portion of the surface. This is the most beautiful form I have seen. 

 According to Mr. Blyth, there is a similar specimen in Calcutta. 



The small race called F. ivagati by Dr. Gray is, I believe, not 

 the War/ad of Sir W. Elliot*, for the specimens are all labelled 

 Moulmain, and are probably the Burmese form. Judging from 

 comparison with a single specimen from the peninsula of India, the 

 Burmese and Southern Indian races are very similarf, except that 

 the latter is larger ; the ground-colour in both is light with large 

 distinct elongate black spots. F. tenasserimensis is founded on a 

 flat skin, and differs in no important character. Further south in 

 the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Islands, extending to Borneo 

 and the Philippine Islands, is another small form, F. minuta v. 



* Madras Jour. Lit. Sfci. x, p. 108. 



t According to McMaster (Notes on Jenlon, p. 29) Burmese individuals are 

 smaller and more richly marked than those from the Western Ghats. 



