CAPE CAT. 
The Cape Cat, as this beautiful animal is 
usually called, is the Felis Capensis, or Tiger- 
Cat of the Cape of Good Hope, according to 
the Linnacan system. Neither Linns us, nor 
Buffbn, however, seem to have at all noticed 
this species, though mentioned by two preced- 
ing writers. It is the Tiger-Bosch-Katten, of 
Koiben ; and the 'Wsussi, of Labat: but, per- 
haps, they had not described it with sufficient 
accuracy, for the naturalist decidedly to pro- 
nounce it a distinct species ; which was first 
done, from the living animal, by the celebrated 
Dr. John Reinhold Forster, iti the seventy-first 
volume of the Philosophical Transactions. 
This communication was read before the 
Royal Society, on the 9th of November 1780, 
and, as the account of this animal is introduced 
by some interesting observations, we shall ex- 
tract the paper verba;::::-. 
" Few tribes of quadrupeds have, in Africa, 
more 
