258 DK. J. K GRAY ON THE SKULLS OF THE FELID.E. [Mar. II, 



the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, to examine a skull of Potamoyale in 

 which the entire series of teeth has been developed. It is that of a 

 specimen brought from the Gaboon by M. Aubry Le Compte, the 

 stuffed skin of which now forms part of the French Colonial Col- 

 lection in the International Exhibition, Paris. 



In tliis skull the last molars have made their a))pearance, so that 

 there are ten teeth on each side in both upper and lower jaws. The 

 most posterior molar of the mandible entirely resembles that in front 

 of it, except in its crown being on a slightly lower level. In the 

 maxilla the posterior molar is considerably narrower from before 

 backwards than the tooth which immediately precedes it, but in 

 other respects it resembles it. 



By an error overlooked in correcting the proof of my former 

 paper on Fotamogale velox, the first, second, and third true molars 

 of the lower jaw are stated to be equal in height to the second pre- 

 molar ; it ought to have been written the third premolar. 



3. Notes on the Skulls of the Cats [Felidts) . 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., &c. 



Having had occasion, while revising the nomenclature of the spe- 

 cimens of Felidcc in the British Museum Collection, to examine a 

 large series of the skulls of the family, I herewith submit the result 

 of that examination. 



The examination confirms the separation of several of the genera 

 that have been proposed, and shows the distinctness of some species 

 which it has been suggested should be united. 



The British Museum Collection contains the skulls of a large 

 number of species of Felidce — the largest series of skulls of that 

 group, I believe, that has ever been brought together — nearly twice 

 as many as are figured in M. de Blainville's * Ostcographie,' which 

 embraces figures of all the species contained in the French collections, 

 in Paris and elsewhere. Of most of the species there are several 

 examples, and almost all of them are obtained from the skins of the 

 specimens in the collection : therefore there can be no doubt of the 

 accuracy of their determination ; and should any doubt arise it can 

 be solved by the examination of the skin from which the skull was 

 obtained. I have referred to the work in which the best figures of 

 the skull of each species is to be found, and I have added figures of 

 some of the more interesting forms, which, I believe, are now pub- 

 lished for the first time. 



The form of the flesh-tooth of the Hunting-Leopard {Gueparda) 

 at once separates it from all the other Cats as distinctly as its long 

 slender legs and round face. The flesh-tooth of the upper jaw, 

 instead of being stout and having a more or less large but always 

 distinctly marked {)rominence with a conical crown on the front of 

 the inner edge, as is common to the skulls of all the (Jats and Lynxes, 

 in the Gueparda, on the contrary, is thin, compressed longitudi- 



