1887.] NOMKNCLATURE OF INDIAN MAMMALS. 631 



term " Felis bengalensis, Desmarest," and in his 'Catalogue of the 

 Mammals and Birds of Burma,' F. undatn, Desmarest. 



The Felis undata of Desmarest was described first and very briefly 

 in the Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. (1816), vi. p. 115, no. 27, as Le 

 petit chat sauvage de Vlnde. It was said to be smaller than F.java- 

 ?iensis, its fur to exhibit waves rather than spots ("son pelage 

 presente des ondes plutot que des taches"), and it was compared to 

 the Wild Indian Cat of Vosmaer, except that the latter was figured 

 of a more bluish tinge. 



In Desmarest's ' JNIammalogie,' published in 1820, further details 

 were given, the essential character being, " Pelage d'un gris sale, avec 

 des nombreuses petites taches noiratres, un pen alongees." This 

 might perhaps refer to F. viverrina, but the description is palpably 

 at secondhand, being founded on a specimen of a kitten brought by 

 Peron from Java, and noticed by Cuvier in the ' Ossemens Fossiles.' 

 It is clear that this animal was not F. bengalensis. The Wild Cat of 

 Vosmaer is called by him " Japansche Bosch-Kat," and the figure 

 has not the least resemblance to any Indian wild cat. Indeed tlie 

 coloration is unlike that of any wild animal, and the specimen was 

 doubtless a domestic cat or the offspring of one run wild. 



But even if the term F. undata were applicable, it must give way 

 to the much older F. bengalensis if, as appears to me to be the case, 

 the latter can be shown to be really applicable to the same species ; 

 for this name dates, not from Desmarest's article published in 1816, 

 as Blyth appears to have supposed, butfrom Kerr's'Animal Kingdom' 

 (p. 1.51), published in 1792. The name was founded on the Bengal 

 Cat of Pennant (Hist. Quadr. p. 272), described from an animal 

 brought alive to England, and which was said to have swum on board 

 a ship at anchor off the coast of Bengal. Thiscircumstanceled Jerdon 

 (Mamm. Ind. p. 106) to suggest that Pennant's Cat was a specimen 

 of F. viverrina ; but Pennant's description shows tliat the species was 

 really the Leopard-cat, and it is more likely that the story of its 

 capture was incorrect. The animal was described as of a beautiful 

 pale yellowish-brown colour above, white below, and as rather less 

 than a common cat in size, none of which characters agree with those 

 of F. viverrina, whilst all apply to the Leopard -cat. 



VII. On the Scientific Name of the Common Indian Mungoose 

 (Herpestes griseus, auct., nee Ichneumon griseus, Geoff.). 



Although there has been by no means a general agreement as to 

 the name to be applied to the common Mungoose of the Indian 

 Peninsula, the Grey Ichneumon of some, a considerable majority of 

 English naturalists have identified the animal with the Ichneumon 

 griseus of Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, or, which comes to the same, with 

 the Herpestes griseus of Desmarest. This specific name griseus 

 had been adopted by zoologists in British India until recently, 

 when Dr. Anderson (An. Zool. Res. p. 181) rejected it in favour 

 of Wagner's later name pallidas, because (ieoffroy's Ichneumeon 

 griseus "originally included an African species." I agree with Dr. 



