food is poultry, among which it occasionally commits great depredations, and also hares, mice, deer, &c. It appears to
be untamable, no matter how young it may be caught, and during the day, though awake and vigilant, remains crouched in
a comer of its cage. The breeding-season is stated to be the month of May, and the litter to consist of three or four young.
Pennant, who first described a specimen as the Bengal Cat, stated that it swam on board ship at the mouth of the Hoogly.
This snimn.1 may possibly have been the F. viverrina, which is a fishing-cat, dwelling among marshes ; for it hardly seems
probable that an arboreal species like the present would be likely to take to the water voluntarily. M‘Master (I c.) mentions
seeing this species in Burmah, and that it frequently came to the villages and stole the fowls. He thought the Burmese
specimens appeared smaller and more richly coloured than two he had seen from the Western Ghâts. Blyth, writing of this
Cat in his ‘ Catalogue of the Mammals and Birds of Burma,’ under the name of Felis undata, says :—“ Dr. Gray describes F.
tenasserimensis ; but I cannot perceive that the flat skin upon which this is founded differs from ordinary F. undata.” The
name here, employed by Mr. Blyth is the one bestowed by Desmarest (I. c.) upon le petite Chat sauvage de VInde | but as
no description is given beyond “ son pelage présente des ondes plutôt que des taches,” and as it is, moreover, compared to the
Chat sauvage indien of Vosmaer (which, if it is not a hybrid or a domestic cat, is like nothing else in the family, and must
be 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 later.
Fur soft, full. General colour pale rufous, darkest on the back. The usual four narrow black lines over the top of
the head down the back of the neck, continued down centre of back in spots and lines ; two on the cheeks meet one that
crosses the throat. Sides of neck, shoulders, and sides of body covered with large irregular black spots or blotches, these
growing smaller on the loins and hind quarters, diminishing on the lower part of fore and hind legs to very small brownish-
black spots. Line between eyes and nose, sides of face, chin, throat, breast, belly, and inside of legs pure white ; two
or three irregular black lines cross the breast ; belly spotted with brownish black, and insides of legs barred with the same
colour on the upper part. Back of ears black, central portion yellowish white. Tail long, same colour as body, irregularly
spotted with brownish black. This specimen is in the British Museum. Entire length 21\ inches, tail 10| inches. An
example in the Leyden Museum from Thibet is a little smaller than the usual style of F. bengalensis, otherwise closely
resembles it. The spots on the loins are round; and in the general character of the markings it resembles the specimen
described above. Another specimen in the same museum from the Himalayas is very light in colour, yellowish white with
rufous and brown spots and streaks, darkest on the back and loins. Tail same colour as the body, irregularly ringed with
rufous-brown. Four stripes over the head and down the back of the neck dark brown ; bars over the chest and on the
inner side of hind legs dark rufous-brown.
The skull of the Bengal Cat has a short facial region, and, as seen in profile, 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 ; infraorbital foramen large,
open, and rounded ; the zygoma is rather stout, and arches well outwards. Orbits incomplete ; but the postorbital process
of the frontal bone is very long, and gradually narrows to its tip, which is pointed ; the mid frontal is wide and diamondshaped
on its upper surface, the postfrontal being contracted rapidly anteriorly ; the parietals are full and rounded ; and
there is a slight postoccipital crest or ridge. Tympanic bullse well developed, with the external auditory foramen large,
rounded, and freely open ; lower outline of the inferior ramus straight from symphysis to angle. Canines moderate in
size ; incisors small and feeble ; molars moderate.