1887.] NOMKNCLATURB OF INDIAN MAMMALS. 029 



Jerdon ' in this, as in other points, has followed Blyth closely, 

 but he remarked (p. 107) of the supposed F.jerdoni that it minht 

 prove only a small variety of F. bengalensis. In treating oi F. rubi- 

 ginosa, however (p. 109), he suggested that the Ceylon species 

 referred to that Cat by Kelaart might perhaps be F. jerdoni of Blyth, 

 which, he went on to say, " that gentleman recently writes me is 

 perhaps the repi'esentative of F. ruhiginosa on the Malabar coast. 

 In the British Museum there is a specimen stated to be from 

 Malacca, but Mr. Blyth is inclined to think that a mistake." 



Mr. D. G. Elliot, in his illustrated ' Monograph of the Felidse ' 

 (1883), separated these Spotted Cats into two species, which he called 

 F. bengalensis and F.javanensis ; but he gave no reasons for so doing, 

 and omitted to point out wherein these two supposed species differ 

 from each other. He included several of the forms enumerated by 

 Gray and Fitzinger under each of the two types. 



Both in the monograph and in a paper published in the Society's 

 Proceedings ^ Mr. Elliot classes F.jerdoni as a variety of F. rubi^ 

 ginosa, and says that both Blyth and Jerdon agreed in this identifi- 

 cation after examining the specimens ^. In this view, as will be seen 

 presently, I atn unable to concur. 



The only other writer on the subject whom I shall quote is Dr. 

 Mivart, who in his work on the Cat distinguishes as separate kinds 

 I . bengalensis, F. wagati, F. chinensis, F. minuta, F. jerdoni, and 

 F. javanensis. 



F. rubiginosa is classed by all as distinct, and of its distinctness 

 there can be no question. The anterior upper premolar p- 2 ig 

 always wanting, in adults at all events, as in the Lynxes, and the 

 bony orbit in the skull is complete behind. In F. bengalensis and 

 its varieties, out of more than 40 specimens examined I have only 

 seen two in which the anterior upper premolar is absent on both 

 sides, and the bony orbit is never complete behind. There is also a 

 character in the external coloration by which every specimen I have 

 examined of both forms can be at once distinguished. In all these 

 Cats a variable number of interrupted dark lines pass from the 

 forehead over the head and hind neck to the interscapulary tract. 

 Usually there are four well-marked bands on the head ; of these the 

 two inner are continued between the shoulders in F. rubiginosa by 

 two long, straight, slightly diverging dark lines, without any lines or 

 spots between them. In F. bengalensis and its allies there are 

 never these two lines alone ; either the markings are all broken 

 and interrupted, or other lines and spots intervene between the 

 continuations of the two inner frontal bands. The tail, too, in 

 F. rubiginosa is unspotted above ; in all forms of the Leopard-cat 

 distinctly spotted. 



There is in the Natural History Department of the British 

 Museum at present a very fine series of these Indian and Malayan 



1 ' Mammals of India,' pp. 105-107 (18G7). 



2 P. Z.S. 1871, p. 7(;o. 



^ This is coiiflniied bv Mr. Holdswoi th, so far as regards Mr. Eljtli, P. Z. S. 

 1871, p. 758. 



