FELIS PLANICEPS
FELIS PLANICEPS.
TH E L IT T L E M A L A Y A N R E D CAT.
FELIS PLANICEPS, Vig. &, Horsf. Zool. Journ. (1828) v o l.a |i| p. 450.—Less. Compl. Buff. (1 8 3 9 ) vol. i. p. 410— Blaiuv. Osteogr. (1839-64)
vol.;|ii|A tl. pis. ix,, xiv.—Less. Nouv. Tab. Rfcgn. Anim. (1842) p. 55. sp. 535.—Blyth, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1863) p. 185.—J. E. Gray,
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (1874) vol. xiv. p. 93.
AILURINA PLANICEPS, Gerv. Hist. Nat. Mamm. tom. ii. (1 8 5 5 ) p. 87.
FELIS (ICTAILURUS) PLANICEPS, Severtz. Rev. Mag. Zool. (1858) p. 387.
VIVERRICEPS PLANICEPS, J. E. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1867) p. 269, fig. 6 (skuü).—Id. Cat. Cam. Mamm. (1869) p. 17. sp. 2, fig. 6
(skull).
AILURÖGALE PLANICEPS, Fitzin. Sitzgsber. Akad. Wiss. Wien (1869).
H a b . Malayan Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo (B l y t h ).
T h i s little animal, rather rare in collections, is a native of the Malayan Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.
I t is one of the smallest members of this family; and, probably on account of the difficulty of observing it in its accustomed
haunts, no information has been published regarding its mode of life by any of the naturalists who have visited the
localities in which it is found. The dentition varies slightly from that of other species of the Felidae ; and from the fact
that the upper false molars are double-rooted, Gervais, in 1855, proposed for it the generic term of Ailurina; and in 1869,
fourteen years afterwards, Fitzinger instituted another—that of Ailurogale, founded upon the same character. Dr. Gray
grouped a certain number of these Cats under the name of Fiveiriceps, distinguished by having the front molar
subcylindrical and one-rooted, varying in size according to the species. In F. rubiginosa it is similar, but soon falls out.
These terms may perhaps answer for subgeneric divisions; but the characters are hardly of sufficient importance to give
generic rank to their possessors; in fact I cannot perceive any characters in the existing species of the Felidae to cause,
in my opinion, any one of them to take a separate generic rank, save the Cheetah or Hunting Leopard, which in some
particulars has a leaning towards the Canidae.
Fur, thick, soft, and long. Top of head dark reddish brown, with indistinct lines of buff on each side from just behind
the eyes to above the ears; body dark brown, darkest on the back, every hair tipped with white, giving a silvery-grey
appearance to the coat. Face beneath the eye reddish; and two narrow lines of the same colour pass across the cheeks
to beneath the ears. Throat, breast, and belly white, the latter spotted and marked with rufous. Inside of legs rufous
brown, growing light towards the feet. Tail rather short and thickly furred, reddish brown. Underneath yellowish
brown. About the size of a domestic Cat.
Entire length 21 inches, tail 8.
Skull long and narrow. Orbits complete. Nasals of no great breadth, but long. Face on a level with the forehead.
Interorbital space wide. Brain-case oblong, fiill, and rounded. Lower outline of mandibular ramus straight from the
angle to beneath the last molar, then curving rapidly upwards to the symphysis. False molar of upper jaw double-rooted.
Canines rather long. Auditory bullse large and prominent, oblong.