Ross — On the Myology of the Clieetah. 23 



II. ^MrOLOGX OF THE ChEETAH, OE HtJjSTTIXG LeOPAUD OF IXDTA 



(Felis Jubata). 15y F. OgilbyEoss, Student in Medicine, of Trinity 

 College, Dublin. 



[Read, Xovcmber 30, 1876.] 



The following facts, relative to the rayology of the Cheetah, arc founded 

 on the examination of a specimen which Professors Macalister and 

 Haughton kindly allowed me to dissect. 



The animal, a fine male, was presented by Viscount Southwell to 

 the Zoological Gardens, where it lived in good health since 1872. 



A little more than a month ago it died in convulsions, for which 

 no cause was discovered on post-mortem examination. 



Before proceeding to describe its myology, a few facts relative to its 

 history and general anatomy may not be out of place. 



There are found in India two animals with spotted skins — the common 

 panther of naturalists, and another, the hunting leopard, named after 

 Daubenton, the Gruepard (the hunting leopard), known to the ancients. 



The Arabians also knew of and distinguished two animals Avith 

 spotted skins, the first under the name of Xemer, the other under that 

 of Fehd ; the latter Bocchart considered identical with the lynx, 

 Cuvier with the hunting leopard. Aristotle says its young were bom 

 blind. According to Herodotus, it inhabited Africa with the ibis. 

 Its skin was spotted, and its natural disposition tameable, according 

 to Eustathius. 



The last two traits seem inapplicable to any but the animal called 

 Fehd by the Arabians. Their not referring to its being used for hunt- 

 ing purposes is very natural, if, as Eldemiri informs us, the fii'st person 

 who so employed it was Chalib, the son of AYail.^ 



Dr. J. E. (rray- places the hunting leopards in a separate tribe, that 

 of the Gruepardina, of which the following are the chief characteristics : 

 Head short, subgiobate ; face very short ; neck slightly maned ; legs 

 elongate, slender, subec^ual ; tail elongate ; ears rounded ; pupil 

 round (?). Skull : face very short, convex; the processes of the frontals 

 and intermaxillse very short, not separating the nasals from the inaxillae ; 

 the flesh tooth of the upper jaw has no lobe, only a very slightly 

 raised, scarcely visible keeled ridge, and is thin and compresfied ; the 

 front, upper false grinder, distinct, small ; orbits incomplete, mo- 

 derate. 



Genus, Gtjepakda, Gray. Crxj^LrKus, Wagner. 



GUEPAEDA GrTTATA. 



Eelis guttata, iTerwj.; Blainv., O-'iteographie, Felis: t. 4, (skeleton); 



' Cuvier, " Animal Kingdom," by Griffiths, Mammalia, vol. ii., p. 460. 

 2 Dr. J. E. Gray's Xotfs on the Sknlls of Cats, " Proceedings of the Jf^oological 

 Society of Londonj" 1867. 



