756 MR. E. W. H. HOLDSWORTH ON FELIS RUBIGINOSA. [Dec. 5, 



Conopias supercitiosus, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. ii. p. 62 (note) ; 

 Scl. Cat. A.B. p. 221. 



Hab. S.E. Brazil (Max. et Burm.), 



2. Conopias inornata. 



Myiosetetes inornatus, Lawr. Ann. L. N.Y. ix. p. 268; Finsch, 

 P. Z. S. 1870, p. 569. 



Hab. Valencia, Venezuela (Lawr.) ; Trinidad (Finsch). 



3. Conopias cinchoneti. 



Tyrannus cinchoneti, Tsch. Faun. Per. p. 151, pi. viii. fig. 2. 

 Hab. Peru (Philippi) ; Bogota (Mus. P. L. S.). 



9. Note on a Variety of Felis rubiginosa from Ceylon. 

 By E. W. H. Holdsworth, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



[Eeeeived December 4, 1871.] 



Before speaking particularly of this variety it may be desirable to 

 give a short account of what is known of the habits and geograpbical 

 range of the species. 



Felis rubiginosa of Is. Geoffroy is a small species of true Cat, and 

 has apparently but a very limited distribution, being restricted, ac- 

 cording to Jerdon, to the Caruatic on the south-east of India and 

 to the island of Cevlon. It has never, I believe, been brought alive 

 to Europe ; and specimens are not numerous in museums, either in 

 this country or elsewhere. 



In Ceylon, which is peopled by races speaking two very distinct 

 languages, Tamil and Singhalese (the former being the language of 

 the north and the latter of the south, the two overlapping in the 

 central and more civilized districts of the island) this Cat is known 

 to some of the native hunters by the name of Verewa pocny in Tamil 

 and Coolla deeya in Singhalese. In the northern district of Ceylon, 

 however, which generally resembles in character the Carnatic, this 

 species is very rare ; and the one example I met with is the only speci- 

 men I have heard of that has been obtained in that part of the island. 

 Liberal rewards offered to native hunters, during several mouths, for 

 specimens alive or dead entirely failed in procuring any more ; and 

 the Government Agent of the Northern Province, who had been re- 

 sident in that large district for very many years, and who, from his 

 official position and known tastes, would be likely to have rarities 

 brought to him, had never seen or heard of this red-spotted Cat 

 until I showed him the specimen I had obtained. It may be con- 

 sidered, therefore, tolerably certain that in that part of Ceylon 

 nearest to India, and resembling it most in physical characters, 

 this species, strangely enough, is almost unknown, although in other 

 respects there is a general similarity in the productions of those parts 

 of the two countries. 



