36 FELID^. 



like the English Domestic Cat, and is probably a half-bred Domestic 

 Cat of India, as is said to be the case with the F. nepalensis of Vigors 

 and Horsfield (Zool. Journ. iv. t. 39), which resembles this figure in 

 some respects. 



As the wild Indian species has not been characterized, I here de- 

 scribe the specimen in the Museum : — 



This Chaus is the beautiful animal that I figured in the ' Illustra- 

 tions of Indian Zoology ' as Felis ornata. The small specimen of 

 the species in the British Museum is not in a very good state. Chaus 

 ornatus is of a pale, more or less bright, yellow-brown colour, with 

 transverse bands of nearly uniform-sized roundish blackish spots on 

 the body. The spots are larger, darker, and closer together on the 

 thighs and upper parts of the legs. The tail has some black rings 

 near the end, and a small black tip. 



IFab. Northern India (Oapt. Boys). 



This does not appear to be a common. Cat in India, as we have 

 only received a single half- grown example, which was purchased at 

 the sale of Capt. Boys's specimens ; and I do not find it described in 

 any systematic work, nor do I recollect to have seen any specimens 

 of it in continental collections. 



In his crude paper on the Asiatic species of the genus Felis (P. Z. S. 

 1863, p. 185), Mr. Blyth places Felis ornata under Felis torqnata, 

 observing that the figure is " very bad." If he had compared the 

 specimen in the British Museum with the figure, he must have re- 

 versed this note ; for it is very characteristic, but is taken from a 

 larger and brighter specimen. Mr. Blyth, when he saw the speci- 

 men in the Museum collection, in his usual offhand manner, said it 

 is only one of the numerous varieties of the common Indian Cat. 

 This species is quite distinct from the Cat that Sir William Jardine 

 afterwards figured as Felis ornata in the ' Naturalist's Library,' 

 Felidce, t. 28. 



3. Chaus catolynx. B.M. 



Felis catolynx, Pallas, Zooyr. Rosso-Asiat. t. 

 Felia affinis, Oray, Hhist. Ind. Zool. t. 

 ? Felis kutas, Pearson. 

 Lyncus erythrotis, Sodgsm, Nep. 



It is known by the bright yellow colour of the fur, without any, 

 or with only very indistinct, indications of darker streaks across the 

 body, which, when present, are only to be seen when the body is 

 looked at at certain angles. 



This is the largest species. I fig-iired it in the ' Illustrations of 

 Indian Zoology' under the name of Felis affinis, having convinced 

 myself that it was a distinct species years ago, when I was 

 studying the animals of India from the Hardwicke Collection of 

 Drawings. I have little doubt that this is the Cat described and 

 figured by Pallas in the/ Zoographia Eosso-Asiatica,' t. 2, under the 

 name of Felis catolynx. It is certainly the Lyncus erythrotis of 

 Hodgson, whose drawings for his ' Nepal Fauna ' contain several 

 good figures of it. It may be the Felis kutas of Pearson. It inha- 



