10. FELI8. 31 



The largest Cape specimen measures, body and head 30, tail 15, 

 inches. 



Most of the specimens of Felis caligata from Africa, like Felis 

 domestiedta, F. indica, and F. torqimta and many other species, have 

 the hinder part of the feet black ; but this is not a permanent cha- 

 racter ; for some of the smaller paler specimens of F. caligata have 

 the hind feet paler than the back of the animal, and some of these 

 have the heels more or less brown or blackish on the outer edges. 



ttttttt Smaller clouded Asiatic Cats. 



30. FeUs inconspicua. B.M. 



Leopardus inconspicuus, Gray, 1844. 



Felis torquata (Chat de Nepaul), F. Ouvier, Mamm. Lithogr. ii. t. 



? Felis bengalensis, Desm. (from F. Ouvier ?). 



Felis inconspicua, Grai/, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 273. 



HcA. India (domesticated, or perhaps a hybrid). 



Skull, length 3 inches 2 lines, width 2 inches 1 line. 



Pace moderate, broad, rather concave in front of orbits ; orbits 

 large, ra;ther oblong, incomplete behind ; forehead slightly convex, 

 rhombic. Like skull of Chaws libycus, but smaller, and the forehead 

 not so convex. 



This Cat comes from India. There is a single specimen of it in 

 the British Museum, which in the ' List of Mammalia,' published in 

 1842, I named the Waved Cat {Leopardus inconspicuus), p. 42, 

 referring it to ^& Felis torquata {Ghat de Nepaul, F. Cuvier, Mamm. 

 Lithogr. ii. t.) with doubt, because the tail of that species is repre- 

 sented as of the same colour as the back, with a series of triangular 

 spots forming half bands on the lower surface for the whole length, 

 and there is only one streak (the upper one) on the cheek, while our 

 specimen, like almost all the species of Cats, has two well-marked 

 streaks. As no specimen like the figure has been received from 

 India, I am now inclined to believe that it is intended to represent 

 the Cat in the Museum, and that the differences are perhaps the 

 errors of the artist. Indeed it is doubtful if the figure is not a copy 

 of an Indian drawing, like several of the animals figured in that 

 work, said to have been received from M. Duvaucel. I cannot 

 agree with Mr. Blyth in thinking that F. torquata is the same as 

 F. ornata. 



Mr. Hodgson sent from Nepaul a very large specimen, which 

 agrees with the typical specimen of F. inconspicua in its most essen- 

 tial characters, but is much larger, and the waved bands are more 

 broken into spots ; these spots are all nearly of the same form. The 

 head and body of the stuffed specimen is 25 inches, and the tail II 

 inches long. In the list of Mr. Hodgson's specimens he asks " Is it 

 a tame Cat?" p. 6. Mr. Hodgson, in his MS. list, called it Felis 

 viverrieeps. There is a third, smaller spechnen in the British Mu- 

 seum, received through Capt. Boys from India. 



This Cat, like F. caligata of Africa, is peculiar in having the 



