1856.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 443 



To Dr. Scott I am further indebted for information regarding the small 

 desert Fox with white-tipped brush (Vulpes leucopfjs, nobis, XXIII, 

 729). This animal is common in the neighbourhood of Hansi during the 

 cold weather only, and very rarely seen there at other seasons : whereas 



there is a distinct small pencil-tuft of black hairs : paws deep sooty-black under- 

 neath. I lately saw, at Allahabad, an exact counterpart of this alleged wild race 

 in a domestic Grimalkin ; but, in general, the domestic Cats of this type, about 

 Calcutta at least, are greyer, with the spots smaller and more numerous. 



The other type much resembles F. chaus in colouring, but does not at all 

 approximate that animal in its proportions : it is much smaller than the Chaus, 

 with proportionally shorter limbs, smaller ears, and much longer tail, which last 

 distinctly tapers at the extremity. Consequently, it exhibits no tendency to the 

 Lynx form and character, so conspicuously manifest in the Chaus. The body is 

 uniformly grizzled " cat-grey," more or less rusty or fulvescent, without a trace of 

 spot or stripe, such as may generally be discerned faintly in the Chaus : but the 

 bands on the limbs are much more distinct than in that animal, those of the tail 

 equally so ; and there are the usual marks on the forehead and cheeks (much con- 

 fused albeit on the former), and a dark band across the chest: lower-parts more 

 or less whitish or tinged with fulvous, and marked with blackish or brown-black 

 spots : ears dull rufous behind, with a slight blackish tip and no pencil-tuft of hairs : 

 the paws more or less sooty underneath. Domestic Cats of this type abound 

 in Bengal, if not generally over India : but such a coloration is utterly unknown 

 among those of Europe : and the proper tabby markings (pale streaks on a black 

 ground, peculiarly and symmetrically disposed), so very common in English Cats, 

 are never seen in those of India ! The tabby may be a modification (and a very 

 remarkable one) of the markings of the wild F. sylvestris of Europe, a result of 

 domestication : but most assuredly the Chaus-coloured cats of India would seem 

 to indicate an aboriginally wild stock of that colour, no doubt inhabiting the 

 country somewhere : but if a truly and aboriginally wild specimen were to turn up, 

 it would merely be regarded as a stray member of the domestic race, and so an end 

 to all enquiry. 



The only guide to a probably correct result would be the fact, that such an 

 animal might inhabit a vast range of country, away from human haunts, without 

 exhibiting the variation of colour everywhere observable in the domestic races ; 

 unless in neighbourhoods where it might inter-breed with the latter, which would 

 pass for nothing : though to such neighbourhoods it would doubtless be attracted, 

 just as the Chaus is ! The question then remains — Do two such Feline types 

 exist, or either of them, in an aboriginally wild state, in any part of India, as have 

 just been described, and both of which are said to be found wild in the Punjab Salt 

 Range ? The difficulty of tracing the origin of many of our domestic animals is 

 well known. I have no doubt that several species have contributed to produce the 



