1907.] IIBCENTLT IN THE SOCIETY'S GARTENS. 667 



On Felis serval Sclireb. (Plate XXXYIII. figs. 1, 2.) 



Subsp. senegalexsis Lesson. (Plate XXXYIII. fig. 1.) 

 Felis senegcdensis \Lessoji, Mag. Zool. 1839, pi. x. 

 Matschie cites F. senegalensis as a synonym of the earlier described 

 F. galeoj)ardus of Desmarest (Mammalogie, pp. 227-228, 1820). 

 Judging from the figures of the types of the two forms, I should 

 say this opinion is untenable. In both there are very definite 

 tolerably widely spaced cervical and dorsal stripes, but whei-eas in 

 F. senegaletisis the sides of the body are covered with numerous 

 small rather close-set spots, in F. galeojxm-dus the spots are larger 

 and much less closely set. This difference, coupled with the fact 

 that the locality of the type of F. galeopardus is unknown, makes 

 the acceptance of Matschie's opinion impossible without some 

 evidence to support it. For the type of F. galeopardv% I select the 

 specimen represented by the figure in F. Cuvier's Hist. Xat. Mamm. 

 i. 1818. This figin^e and the accompanying text were published 

 two years before the issue of Desmarest's volume, and Desmarest 

 not only quotes them but inserts Cuvier's name as his authority, 

 at the end of the description of F. galeopardus. A reduced copy 

 of Cuvier's figure is published in Jardine's Nat. Libr., Felime, 

 pi. xxiv., 1837, and in Mr. Lydekker's volume on Cats in Lloj'd's 

 Nat. Hist. pi. xiv., 1896. 



Of F. served senegalensis there is a good photograph in Sir 

 Harry Johnston's ' Liberia,' ii. p. 701, 1906. The ninnerous 

 round and close-set sj^ots forming 8 or 9 rows from belly to back on 

 each side ai'e very clearly shown. This example came from the 

 Liberian border, presumably the northern border; and judging 

 from the photograph the animal must have resembled very closely 

 a specimen from Sierra Leone, now living in the Gardens, which 

 was presented by Mr. Hudson with the example of Felis aurata 

 above described (p. 659). It is important to record that this .speci- 

 men lived in the Gardens about a year. It grew a great deal, but 

 did not appreciably alter in colour or pattern. 



F. s. senegalensis may be said to have about 17 or 19 rows of 

 spots across the body dorsally from belly to belly, including the 

 median spinal and the two dorso-lateral stripes. The rows, 

 however, are extremely difiicult to count, and it is easy to decrease 

 or increase the total by one or two on each or either side. 

 Nevertheless in the main it is true that this subspecies has 

 smallei' and considerably more spots thaii Servals occurring in 

 certain other parts of Africa. In some of the latter the spots are 

 much more elongate and their serial arrangement much moi-o 

 evident than in F. s. senegalensis (Plate XXXVIII. fig. 2). 



The nu.mber of rows also is less on the whole, amounting to 

 only about 15 *, regarding the spinal stripe, which is sometimes 

 doubled, as one. Now Matschie's alleged species F. togoensis is 

 said to have 20-24 rows of spots, those on the back being 



* Matschie says 12-16 (SB. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berlin, 1895, p. IIC). 



