162 MR. R. I. pococK ON [Feb. 19, 



The ears are small and set veiy low on the sides of the head, 

 leaving a great width of forehead between them ; the facial and 

 body markings are different ; and, lastly, the pupil of the eye 

 contracts to a circular disk * . 



There is, however, one species of Felis which must not be 

 altogether forgotten in considering the possible origin of Persian 

 Oats. This is the Bokhara Steppe Cat (^Felis caiidata), described 

 by J. E. Gray (P. Z. S. 1874, pp. 31-32, pis. vi. & vii.). The type 

 is in the British Museum. The figures of the entire animal and 

 of the skull show that this Cat is closely related to Felis sylvestris 

 and to F. ocreata, and not to F. chaus, with which Dr. Gray com- 

 pared it. It has a thick coat and bushy tail, like F. sylvestris ; 

 but there are no distinct spinal stripe nor definite stripes on the 

 head and neck. In length the tail resembles that of F. ocreata ; 

 and likeness to this species is further shown by the indistinctness 

 of the head, neck, and dorsal stripes. From both the other species 

 it differs in being covered with small spots ; but these spots, at 

 least on the anterior part of the body, show, I think, signs of the 

 coalescence into transverse rows which is realised in F. sylvestris 

 and F. ocreata. Gray describes the colour as yellowish. The 

 skin, which is probably faded, might be more aptly described as 

 " ounce "-grey. Whether or not this species has any connection 

 with the " spotted " Cats of the Punjab Salt Range, mentioned 

 below (p. 164), I am unable to say. 



It is worth putting on record the fact that in two out of the 

 three skulls of " Persian Cats " I possess the jaws are slightly 

 " underhung," that is to say, the mandible protrudes a little in 

 front of the premaxillse. I have not noticed this peculiaiity in the 

 skvills of any other Cats, either wild or domestic. It may be purely 

 accidental, or it may indicate that the taste of fanciers in Cats is 

 running along the same lines as those of breeders of Domestic Dogs. 

 In this case we may in tlie future have a race of snub-nosed Cats 

 departing in facial elegance from Nature's type of Felis in the 

 same manner that Pugs and Bulldogs depart from Nature's type 

 of Cams. 



The origin of the Siamese breed has been a much-discussed 

 puzzle. The peculiar coloration t must be set on one side as value- 

 less towards affording a clue. The cats are obviously albescent, as 

 is attested by the hue of the hair and frequently by the blueness 

 of the eye J. But the albescence, complete in the newly-born 

 kitten, is mitigated as age advances by a melanistic taint which 

 evinces itself in two ways, both of unusual occurrence in Nature. 

 In the first place, the black pigment is distributed symmetrically^, 

 and primarily affects the face and ears, the tail, and the legs. 



* The illustration of this species in Elliot's ' Monograph of the Felidse,' pi. x., was 

 taken from a stuffed specimen, and does not correctly depict the peculiarities of the 

 head and ej'es. Elliot, however, very rightly insists that this Cat is unlike all other 

 known species. 



f Mr. E. G. B. Meade Waldo has reminded me that the so-called Himalayan breed 

 of domestic rabbits is almost identieall}' coloured. 



X R. I. Pocock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) xix. p. 194, 1907. 



