84 FELID^. 



skull convex-; orbits very large, incomplete behind; nasal bones 

 narrow, close on the maxUla ; front tipper false grinder distinct ; 

 upper tubercular grinder small, transverse ; the lobe on the inner 

 side of the upper flesh- tobth moderate. 



Of the genus Ohaus (as defined by the shortness of the tail), 

 which appears to be confined to Asia, there are what I am inclined 

 to regard as three distinct species in the Museum Collection. 



1. Chaus Jacquemontii. B.M. 



Felis chaus, Guldemt.? 



Fehs Jacquemontii, I. Geoff. Voy. Jacquemmt, t. 3. f. 1, 2 (skull), 



Chaus Jacquemontii, Oerrard, Cat. Bones B. M. 



Chaus libycus. Gray, P. Z. S. 1867, p. 276. 



Sab. Africa and Asia. 



In the British Museum there are two small specimens of Chaus 

 with short tails from India which have more distinct dark bands 

 across their body and legs, and which are without doubt the Cats 

 that MM. F. Cuvier and Blyth have confounded with the longer- 

 tailed Felis maniculata of Africa. 



This Cat was figured, from a specimen then alive in Exeter Change, 

 under the name of the Bangalore Cat (F. chaus), in my ' SpicUegia 

 Zoologica,' t. 2. f. 1. It is probably the Felis Jacquemontii of M. 

 Isidore Geofiroy, in the ' Zoology to Jacquemont's Voyage,' the skuU 

 Qf vhich is figured t. 3. f. 1. Unfortunately the specimens in the 

 Museum are few in number, and not in a very perfect state ; but I 

 can scarcely think that this Cat can be the young state of Felis 

 affinis from Nepal. It is doubtless the Cat that Mr. Blyth con- 

 founds with the Egyptian Cat {F. chaus, Geoff.), stating that it is 

 "the common animal of Bengal" (see P. Z. S. 1863, p. 186), and 

 that, as in the case of many common animals, its skins are rarely 

 brought to Europe. It seems spread over various parts of India, as 

 the specimens in the British Museum were sent from the MatoraUa 

 territory by Sir Walter Elliot, and from Gangootra. 



Having confidence in the declaration of M. F. Cuvier, that the 

 skins he had received from Malabar were exactly like those of the 

 animal named by M. Geoffrey in the Museum Catalogue F. chaus 

 which came from Egjrpt, and with those that M. F. Cuvier figured 

 and described under the same name that were received from North 

 Africa, and also in Mr. Edward Blyth's observation (see P. Z. S. 

 1863, p. 181), that "the Egyptian specimen (of F. cJiaus) now living 

 in the Society's Gardens is absolutely similar to the common animal 

 of Bengal," I was misled and adopted their conclusion. 



These authors must have examined their specimens very cursorily, 

 and cannot have paid any attention to the length of the tail and the 

 distribution of the bands when present. It mU be seen by my pre- 

 ceding observations, founded on the examination of the specimens in 

 the British Museum received from all parts of Africa (from Tunis 

 and Egypt in the north, Abyssinia in the east, and the Cape of Good 

 Hope in the south), that these Cats are all of one species, and of a 



