394 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE FELID^. [^Pl". 1 1, 



was endeavouring to catch ; its flight is remarkably strong and rapid. 

 A pair of Falco lunulatus and a female of Accipiter torquatus com- 

 mitted the same rash act, and paid the penalty with their lives. 



Haliastur leucosternus was one of the first birds that greeted us 

 as we entered the Clarence River, and, after flying round the steamer 

 once or twice, ascended the river before us. A fine specimen of this 

 species was shot by Mr. MacGiliivray on the Clarence River during 

 18G5. 



2. Notes on certain species of Cats in tlie Collection of tlie 

 British Museum. By Dr. John Edward Gray^ F.R.S., 

 V.P.Z.S., F.L.S., &c. 



(Plates XXIV. & XXV.) 



Having to name some of the Cats recently received, it was requi- 

 site to compare them with those already in the collection ; and I here- 

 with send some observations that I made on them when so occupied. 



The Leopard and the Serval of Africa are too well known to re- 

 quire any observation, except to remark that the Serval is by no 

 means so variable in the form and. disposition of the spots as the 

 Leopard. 



There is a series of Cats from the West Coast of Africa that are 

 very little known ; and, fortunately, there are in the British Museum 

 the type specimens on which three of the species have been founded, 

 and of two of them other and better specimens of the skins than 

 those first described have been received and are in the collection, 

 showing the distinctness of the species, which were each described 

 from a single imperfect skin. 



The three very distinct species of Spotted Cats from West Africa, 

 which have been described at different times by Mr. Waterhouse, 

 Mr. Ogilby, and myself, all differ from the one from Guinea de- 

 scribed by M. Temminck. My Felis neglecta agrees with F. celi- 

 dogaster in many particulars ; but the spots are much smaller than 

 M. Temminck describes, they are by no means of a chocolate or 

 bright brown colour, and the tail is not ringed. These are just 

 the characters by which the three skins in the British Museum are 

 distinguished from each other. It is most probable that the F. 

 celidogaster of Guinea is distinct from the Cats from the Gambia 

 and Sierra Leone which are in the Museum. All the three, and, 

 indeed, very many other Spotted Cats, have the belly distinctly 

 spotted and the throat with a half collar ; so that the name F. celido- 

 gaster would be equally applicable to any of them. 



The three species in the Museum may be distinguished thus : — 



L Felis neglecta. Gray, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 246; Mag. N. H. 

 18:^8, p. 27. 



Grey ; head and body marked with numerous small darker spots. 



