24 Pi'oceedhtgs of the Royal Irish Academy. 



t. 9 (skull). E. jubata, ^(?7ire^. ~P.\'e-nQi\Qii, A. Smith. P. fearonis (?), 

 A. Smith. Cynaeltirus soemmeringii, Ruppell. 



Professor Owen, ^ however, places it in the genus Pelis. He says, 

 '' The OS hyoides is connected to the cranium by an uninterrupted 

 scries of hones, thus connecting it with the cats. It possesses the cir- 

 cular pupil common to lion, tiger, leopard, and jaguar. 



" In the form of the oesophagus and in the transverse rugte of its 

 lower half the Cheetah agrees with the lion, and in it, as in the 

 other Feles, the oesophagus is not prolonged into the abdomen, but 

 terminates, immediately after passing through the diaphragm, in the 

 stomach ; this organ in the Cheetah has all the peculiarities which 

 are found in the genus Pelis. The intestines also agree in character 

 with those of that group ; and the caBcum, as usual in it, is simple, 

 having none of the convolution which is found in the dog. The liver, 

 pancreas and spleen resemble those of the cats generally ; as do also 

 the kidneys in the arborescent form of their superficial veins — a form, 

 however, equally common to the Viverridse and the Pelidse, which also 

 agree in having spiculas on the tongue. 



'■'■ The thoracic viscera of the Cheetah agree with- those of the cats. 

 The lytta or rudiment of the lingual bone, so conspicuous in the dog, 

 is reduced in it, as in the other feline animals, to a small vestige. 



" There is, as in the Feles generally, no bone of the penis ; and the 

 glaus, as usual in them, has retroverted papillaB. 



''The elastic ligaments of the ungual phalanges exist in the same 

 number and position as those of the lion ; they are, however, longer 

 and more slender, their length alone occasioning the incomplete re- 

 traction of the claws, as compared with the rest of the FelidEe." 



Professor Owen concludes by observing that in the circulatory, 

 respiratory, digestive, and generative systems, the Cheetah conforms 

 lo the typical structure of the genus Pelis. 



Habitat : Africa, Asia, Persia.* Prom Southern and Western 

 India, through Persia, Syria, Northern and Central Africa, to the 

 Cape of Good Hope.^ 



Dr. Kirk*^ mentions it as occurring in the Makalalo country (not 

 (•.ommon) in his list of the Mammals of Zambesia. 



The dissection was commenced towards the latter end of October. 

 On taking oif the skin, the panniculus carnosus was found to be 

 moderately well developed in the fore part of the body, but more fully 

 in the hinder part. 



The trapezius was divided as usual into the clavicularis (corre- 

 sponding to the anomalous cleido-occipital in man), and seapulares, 

 superior and inferior. 



3 On the Anatomj^ of the Cheetah, Fe.lis Juhata, Schreh. " Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society of London," part i., 1833, p. 108. 

 * Gray, loc. cif. 



° Wallace, " Geographical Distribution of Animals," vol. ii. p. 193. 

 6 " Proceedings Zoological Society of London," 1864, p. 653. 



