WILD-CATS AT THE ZOO 237 
with a double gift of beauty. In colouring it is 
unique, and its proportions are as elegant as its tints. 
The fur on the back is the colour of the red variety 
of gold-stone, with the texture of thick-piled velvet. 
This warm and luminous hue pales into white on the 
belly, and runs up the chest, ending on the chin, 
which is square and almost bearded, giving a tigerish 
expression to the head. On the mask of the face the 
reddy golden fur is striped with wavy lines of orange 
and white. The eyes are strangely large, dark, clouded, 
beryl-brown globes, with smoky-yellow topaz lights, 
and shine like round translucent gems set in a velvet 
case. This mass of orange-tawny, gold, and topaz, 
is set off by the pale rose-pink of the nose and lips, 
and the not unfrequent exhibition of rows of ivory 
teeth. The whole body is elegant and symmetrical, 
and the colouring so exactly balanced, that the warm 
white of the lower parts which ends in front at the 
point of the chin, extends with the same precision 
along the lower part of the tail even to the tip, as if 
the golden cat were fresh from a swim across a lake 
of cream. Among the lacunce in this part of the 
collection the marbled tiger-cat, the viverrine cat, the 
Pampas-cat, the Margay, the Eyra cat, the jaguarondi, 
and the leopard-cat of Bengal may be mentioned. 
Most of these have been seen at the Zoo at one time 
or another, and Mr. Bartlett found the “ Eyra cat” a 
most affectionate and amusing pet. It is an American 
wild-cat, but far longer and lither in shape than others 
of the true cats, resembling a genet in shape. It is 
