1831.] 
On a new species of Felis. 
177 
ful. But there is another difficulty. The Dasyurus, in Griffith's Animal Kingdom, 
is stated to have cheek teeth £§, whereas the specimen under consideration had 
cheek teeth ff, or 12 in the upper jaw, and 14 in the lower. It is also stated in the 
same work, as a distinction among others, between the Sarigues and the Dasyuri, 
that the former have in all fifty teeth (50), and the latter only forty-two (42), — the 
specimen before us, however, has in all 44 teeth. Looking, then, at the difference 
between the shape of the head, especially in the cut of the mouth, between the animal 
before us, and the figure and description of the Dasyurus Cynocephalus , as represent- 
ed and described in Griffith, is there not reason to suppose this one to be an unde- 
scribed variety ? In that case, by way of convenience, and looking at its wolf-like 
expression, we might distinguish it as the Dasyurus Lucocephalus. I leave the 
subject, however, in good hands, and have to apologise for these hasty and inconclu- 
sive notes ; but I thought, defective as they are, that they might, perhaps, excite 
those who are better qualified to a closer examination of the subject. 
YlH.-Sowe Account of a new Species of Felis. By B. H. Hodgson, 
Esq. B. C. S. 
Felis Moormensis. The Moormi Cat. Habitat Nepal. Specific character. Cat, 
with long, moderately full, uniform tail — deep bay above, paler below; ears 
and tip of tail, black ; white chin ; and face striped lengthwise with buff and 
black. The only specimen of this species which I have ever been able to procure, 
was a fine mature male, sent me alive, about 2 years back, by the Prime Minister 
of Nepal — with the intimation, that the animal presented to me was the first of the 
kind ever taken — the people of the country having been, by its capture, first apprised 
of its existence in Nepal. It was caught in a tree, by some hunters, in the midst of 
an exceedingly dense forest, situated in about the latitude of the great valley ; and 
the habitat of the species may, therefore, be presumed to be the central portion of 
these mountains, or, that portion which lies equi- distant from the snows of the 
Himalaya, and the hot plains of Hindoostan. Though only just taken when it 
was brought to me, it bore confinement very tranquilly, and gave evident signs of a 
tractable disposition, and cheerful unsuspicious temper ; so much so, as to convince 
me that a judicious attempt at taming it must succeed. None such, however, was 
made; and when the animal, after a 6 months’ imprisonment, died of disease, he 
was still, of course, unreclaimed from his wild state of manners and temper ; in 
which state he manifested considerable ferocity and high courage ; the approach to 
his cage of the huge Bhoteah dog, exciting in him symptoms of wrath only — none 
of fear. 
This species, in point of size, is nearly midway between the large and small cats — 
being as much larger than the latter, as he is smaller than the former. In its general 
form, proportions, and aspect, however, it is decidedly more allied to the great cats 
than the small ones, and indeed resembles the small ones only in the shortness of 
its nose, and the agreeable expression of its face. 
It has a long, compressed body, with short legs, not remarkably stout ; short 
thick neck ; head of considerable breadth and depth, with flatted crown ; nose 
1 Moormi, name of the tribe inhabiting that part of the hills in which the Cat was 
taken : but the animal being a stranger to their acquaintance, I cannot obtain a local 
name for it. It is, doubtless, new; and the name I have given it will do as well as 
another. 
