FELTS CHAUS, SUBSP. NILOTICA. 
181 
of the continent of Africa and its range in Egypt is confined to the Delta and to the 
Nile Valley for a short distance only to the south of Cairo, 
Cats of this species (in the larger sense) were first described by Giildenstaedt from 
specimens obtained by Pallas on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Pallas called the 
same animal by a different name in his own account of the animals obtained during 
his travels. A nearly-allied form of lighter build, and having very much smaller teeth, 
occurs in India, and has received several names, the first of which is affinis of Gray C 
Hence this Indian race is now known as Felis chaus subsp. affinis. 
About the end of the eighteenth century Olivier found this cat frequenting the corn¬ 
fields between Alexandria and Siwah, and although he was unable to obtain a specimen 
by the aid of his own rifle, a skin was procured from some Bedouins who had found 
the animal on the borders of the desert. The skin was unfortunately headless 
and so no description of this important feature was possible. The name Olivier 
bestowed upon it had unfortunately been given by Meyer, with only a slight difference 
of spelling, to the animal collected by Bruce. 
Brandt also distinguished the Egyptian animal, obtained by Buppell at Lake 
Menzaleh, by a separate name ; but, in naming it after the collector, he likewise 
overlooked the fact that this name had already been bestowed by Schinz on the 
smaller long-tailed cat, F. lyhica ; so the name he applied likewise cannot be used. 
By many writers this species has been confused with the “ Booted Lynx ” of Bruce, 
which in reality was a specimen of F. lyhica. In all probability Bruce had seen 
specimens of F. chaus in Egypt, and had been struck by their lynx-like form and 
moderately-tufted ears, and possibly made notes at the time, but had not preserved 
a specimen ; then, on getting a somewhat similarly coloured cat in Abyssinia, which 
he brought home, he fell into the error of supposing it to be of the same species. 
He probably also had recollections of the ears of the Caracal with its long tufts, thus 
the description, based upon both the skin and his notes, may account for the long tail 
of one species and the tufted ears—but exaggerated—of the other being combined in 
the figure he has given of his “ Booted Lynx.” 
The Egyptian animal closely resembles the typical form from Transcaspia in colour; 
it is, however, rather larger, the ears are less rufous, and the chest more grizzled. A 
comparison between the skulls of F. chaus subsp. nilotica and of typical chaus shows 
that, besides the greater size of the teeth of the former, the profiles differ considerably. 
Looking at the skulls in true profile, the highest point of the cranium in the typical 
F. chaus is equidistant between the tip of the nasals and the occiput, that is, just behind 
the postorbital processes ; while in F. chaus subsp. nilotica the highest point is just in 
front of a line drawn between the points of these processes, and so noticeably nearer 
^ lllust. Ind. Zool. i. p]. iii. (1830). 
