1882.] PROF. ST.-GEORGE MIVART ON THE ZLUROIDEA. 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—are 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, it 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 
premolar may also be present or absent in the same species, as in 
F. scripta, F. pajeros, and others, while in J’. planiceps it is large 
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. ornata, 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. 
aurata, 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'. marmorata, F. macrocelis, F. megalotis, F'. paeros, F. cali- 
gata, F. manul, 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 
fur, that I cannot but regard them as forming but a single species. 
This 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) 1 am disposed to regard as a distinct 
species on account of the form of its skull. When the skull is seen 
1 No. 4504 in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 
