1907.] ENGLISH DOMESTIC CATS. 157 



{F. ocreata and F. sylvestris). The type of pattern they present 

 is not found in any other species of Felis^ the nearest approach 

 thereto being that of the Tiger {F. tigris) and in a remoter degree 

 of Pallas's Oat {F. manul). The similarity in pattern between the 

 two, coupled with their geographical distribution, almost induces 

 the adoption of the view that they are but northern and southern 

 forms of the same species. There is as yet, however, no positive 

 evidence that they actually intergrade to the extent of justifying 

 the conclusion that their distinctive features are merely of sub- 

 specific value. 



The characters they have in common are as follows : — 

 Close resemblance in the shape, size, and structure of the skull 

 a,nd teeth*. 



General similarity in size and shape of the body, of the paws 

 and ears, and in the length of the tail, though this organ is 

 apparently a little longer at least in North-African examples of 

 F. ocreata than in F. sylvestris. 



General similarity in pattern : in both species the sides of the 

 body are typically marked with wavy vertical dark stripes ex- 

 tending from the spine to the belly, and better defined, as a rule, 

 on the thoracic than on the abdominal portion ; the upper parts 

 of both fore and hind limbs are transversely banded with broad 

 bars, almost always darker than the transverse stripes on the 

 body ; the fore leg is black below from the toes to the wrist and 

 behind at the elbow, the two internal brachial stripes, normal in 

 felines, being well developed ; the hind leg is normally blackish 

 below from the toes up to the hock. The distal portion of the 

 tail has a black tip and about three well-defined black stripes pre- 

 ceding it, the proximal portion of the tail being much less distinctly 

 barred and marked at best with an ill-defined median dorsal 

 stripe. The throat is unstriped or only indistinctly striped, and 

 usually exhibits a white spot ; the thoracic and anterior abdominal 

 areas of the ventral surface are spotted ; the posterior abdominal 

 and inguinal areas are unspotted and tinged with yellowish bufi", 

 especially on the inner side of the thighs. Identity prevails even 

 in the colour of the individual hairs, which are slate-grey at the 

 base, then buff or cinnamon, then black, the distal portion being 

 yellowish or greyish white with a black tip. 



The principal differences between them are as follows : — 

 In F. sylvestris the four paired stripes on the head and neck are 

 well defined ; on the occipital region they diverge from the middle 

 line and run backwards almost to the shoulder as four wavy widely 



* Amongst the skulls in my own collection and in that of the British Museum I 

 have so far failed to find any constant characters for distinguishing the two species. 

 By the sum of a number of small features in the teeth and bones, the skull of 

 sylvestris can generally be recognised from that of ocreata. But up to the present 

 every character which I thought might prove to be distinctive of sylvestris has 

 broken down under the examination of a long series of skulls of ocreata, a species 

 which, iu its broad sense, is extremely variable in its cranial osteology. So far as the 

 skull IS concerned, the differences between the two species must be regarded as of 

 " subspecific " value. 



