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food is poultry, among which it occasionally comm Te appears to
uuntamable, no matter how young it may be eaugh the day, though avwake and vigilant, remains eroulied in
a comer of ts enge. ‘The breeding-season it stated to be the month of May, and the liter to consist of three or four you
Pennant, who fist described a specimen as the Bengal Cat, stated that it swam on board ship atthe mouth ofthe Hoogly
This animal may possibly have been the F. eierrina, which is a fishing-eat, dwelling among marshes; for it hardly seems
probable that an arboreal species like the present would be likely to take tothe water voluntarily. mentions
ing this species in Barmah, and that it frequently came to the villages and stole the fowls.
specimens appeared smaller and m «than two he had seen from the Western Ghits. Blyth, writing ofthis
Cat in his “Catalogue of the Mammals and Birds of Burma,’ under the name of Felis wndate, says:— Dr. Gray deseribes F
tenaserinensis; bat Teannot perceive that the ‘upon which this is founded differs from ordinary ZF. wndata
name here employed by Mr. Blyth isthe one bestowed by Desmarest (le) upon le petite Chat suweage de Cude
no description is given beyond “son pelage prévente des onde pluét que des taches,” and as it is, moreover, compared to the
Chat saweageindien of Vosmacr (which, i itis not a hybrid or a domestic eat, is like nothing else in the family, and mm
a product of the imagination), I have not thought it best to use the name in preference to that of F. bengalensis,
undoubtedly bestowed upon this species four years ater
Fur soft fall. General colour pale rufous, darkest on the baek. ‘The usual four narrow black lines over the top of
he head down the back of the neck, continued down centre of back in spots and lines; two on the checks mect one that
osses the throst. Sides of neck, shoulders, and sides of body covered with lange iregular black spots or blotches, these
growing smaller on the loins and hind quarters, diminishing onthe lower part of fore and hind legs to very small brownish
black ine between eyes and nose, sides of face, chin, throat, breast, belly and inside of legs pure white ; two
or throe regular black Fines eross the breast; belly spotted with brownish black, and insides of Jegs barred with the same
mir on the upper part. Back of ears black, central portion yellowish white, ‘Tul long, same colour as body, iregulaey
spotted with brownish black. This specimen is in the British Museum, Entire length 215 inches, tail 10; inches. An
example in the Leyden Museum from Tibet isa litle smaller than the usual style of F. Dengalenss, otherwise close
esembles it, The spots on the loins are round; and in the general charueter of the markings it resembles the specimen
scribed ab other the same museum from the Himalayas is very light in colour, yellowish white with
‘and streaks, darkest on the back and loins, Tail same colour as the body, iregulaely ringed with
ous-brown. Four stripes over the head and down the back of the neck dark brown; bars over the chest and on the
inner sie of hind legs dark rufous-brown
The skull ofthe Bengal Cat has a short ficial region, and, a8 seen in profil, has the upper outline but very slightly arched.
The nasals are narrow and pointed at their articulation with the frontal bone, and extend beyond the processes of the
maxilla. Maxillas broad, and their frontal processes square at their upper posterior ends ; infiaorital foramen larg
is rather stout, and arches well outwards. Orbits incomplete; but the postorbital proces
and gradually narrows to its tip, which is pointed ; the mid frontal is wide and dis
shaped on its upper surface, the postfontal being contracted rapidly anteriorly the parietals are fall an
there i a sight postoceipital crest or ridge. ‘Tympanie bulke well developed, with the external auditory f
rounded, and freely open ; lower outline of the inferior ramus straight from symphysis to angle. Canines moderate in
size; incisors small and feeble |