1S82.] PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ^LUROIDEA. 141 



It has been proposed to separate off as a distinct genus the Cats 

 with a vertical pupil and an orbit inclosed behind by bone, and to 

 divide the round-pupilled Cats into two genera, according to the 

 presence or absence of a first upper premolar. 



These characters do not appear to me capable of serving as marks 

 of generic distinctness. Some Cats— as F. macrocelis, F. serval, and 

 F. chaus—m-Q described as having a pupil neither round nor linear 

 when contracted, but oblong; and while in most of the smaller Cats 

 in which the point has been ascertained the pupil is linear, in some, 

 as F. eyra,\t is round. The length of the postorbital processes 

 varies even in the same species, and much more in forms which must 

 be connected as close allies ; while the morphologically second upper 

 pi-emolar may also be present or absent in the same species, as in 

 F. scripta, F. pajeros, and others, while in F. planiceps it is laro-e 

 and two-rooted. In the skull of an old Lion ' I have found the 

 upper two molars not only absent, but every trace of their alveoli 

 also. The ears of the Lynxes are pencilled, but those of F. chaus, 

 F. oniata, and F. caudata are more or less pencilled likewise. The 

 Lion stands alone with its large mane (though the Ounce has a 

 small one), and the Tiger is distinguished from every other Cat by its 

 stripes ; but these no one would take to be generic distinctions. 



We might indeed separate off the Lion, Puma, Jaguar, Eyra, F. 

 uuruta, F. planiceps, F. badia, and F. rutila as Cats of a uniform 

 colour, neither spotted nor striped when adult. The group, how- 

 ever, would not be a natural one. Similarly, we might associate 

 together the most distinctly spotted Cats, while distinguishing others 

 (as F. manmrata, F. macrocelis, F. megalotis, F. pajeros, F. cali- 

 gata, F. ntamd, F. neglecta, F. torquata, and F. catus) as rather 

 clouded ' than "spotted." Almost every transition, however, 

 exists between the spotted and clouded Cats, and some spotted forms 

 occasionally have their spots very slightly marked ; so that generic 

 distinctions reposing on any such characters would be most futile. 



It is not the object of this paper to define species ; nevertheless 

 the question as to the distinctness of certain of them will have to be 

 occasionally considered. I may therefore perhaps be excused for 

 remarking that I have examined a large quantity of skins of the 

 Lynxes known as F. borealis, F. canadensis, F. rufa, and F. macu- 

 lata, and found amongst them so very many intermediate conditions 

 as to both coloration (ground-colour and markings) and length of 

 lur, that I cannot but regard them as forming but a single species. 

 Ihis opinion is also confirmed by the close resemblance which exists 

 between their skulls. 



As to the Lynx F. isabellina, I was at first inclined to regard it as 

 a good species ; but Dr. Scully has very kindly allowed me to examine 

 the skins obtained by him in Central Asia', and amongst them is 

 one intermediate in coloration between the F. isabellina of the 

 ^British Museum and certain specimens of the Northern Lynx. The 

 Pardine Lynx {F. pardina) I am disposed to regard as a distinct 

 species on account of the form of its skull. When the skull is seen 

 No. 4504 A in the museum of the Eoyal College of Surgeons. 



