Pakearctic region, which has only comparatively recently been ascertained, it need not be surprising that the smaller
members of the same family living in hot and cold countries are specifically identical. I have examined a very large number
of individuals of the species which is here called javensis, from all the localities, I believe, in which it is found, under the
various names it has pleased those having the specimens in charge to give them ; and the result of my investigation
is that I regard them all as representatives of a widely diffused very variable species. To exhibit certain extreme styles
and claim distinctness for them, might appear reasonable to any one who was not aware that perhaps all the intermediate
forms could be found in a fairly large series of specimens. And this, I apprehend, is the cause of the great amount of
synonymy that now burdens the species, examples having been named without the describer having had sufficient material
available for him to be aware how many were the patterns and shades of colour that this species is capable of exhibiting
in a large series of individuals. The skulls vary also, nearly as much as the skins; but, as with these, I consider the variation
to consist of individual differences, such as are natural among creatures of different sexes, ages, and perhaps modes of life,
the latter occasioned by the physical conditions of the country in which they live; but I have not seen any characters
exhibited in any skulls that of themselves seemed sufficient to give their possessor a distinct specific rank. F. javensis
was first described by Desmarest {I. c.) from a specimen obtained in Java; and since then the animal has been visited with
many different names, most of them given according to the country from which the specimen came. I t is probably better
known by Temminck’s name F. minuta than by any other, and next to that by the name F. sumatrana of Horsfield.
The late Dr. Gray described as distinct four of the different styles of coloration observed among specimens of this species ;
although he was well aware that individuals varied greatly from each other, yet he deemed them “ worthy of being noticed
either as species or well marked varieties.” There is no doubt that there are more or less well marked varieties ; but I
have not been able to discover, after carefully examining his types, that they are entitled to any higher rank, and have
therefore placed all of them among the synonyms of F. javensis. Dr. Horsfield states that in Java this species inhabits the
large forests, and during the day remains concealed in the hollow of some tree, but ranges at night in quest of food, visiting
the villages and committing great depredations among the poultry. The natives believe that, in order to surprise the fowls,
it has the power of imitating their voice and thus putting them off their guard. Besides fowls, it preys on other birds
and also quadrupeds, but will, when driven by hunger, devour carrion. I t seems to be untamable, confinement having
no subduing influence upon the natural fierceness of its disposition. I have stated that individuals vary greatly from
each other in colouring and markings; and in the accompanying Plates representations are given of four different styles,
these being respectively those that have been designated F. javensis (typical), F. sumatrana, F. minuta, and F. chinensis,
thus showing the extremes both in appearance and habitats, as among them are those found in the furthest south and
north. Prof. A. Milne-Edwards has figured a skull of a specimen of this species from Canton, which he considers
distinct, and refers it to F. chinensis, Gray. The differences he mentions, as compared with other specimens, would be
found in a series of skulls to be of much less importance than when regarded singly, and would rather constitute an
individual variation than be of specific value.
Fur short, smooth, upper part of head, back, and sides rufous brown. Four blackish brown lines on top of head,
passing down the neck, and along the back, where they are broken into spots. Shoulders, flanks, and hind quarters
covered with rather large spots of blackish brown regularly distributed. Two blackish brown lines cross the cheeks from
the eye to beneath the ears. Cheeks, lips, throat, breast, inside of legs, and belly white, spotted with dark reddish-
brown, inclined to stripes across the breast and throat. A white stripe between the eyes and the nose. Outside of legs,
and inside of lower part of hind legs, yellowish brown, spotted with dark brown, the spots much smaller and less
distinct than on the body. Tail rather short, yellowish brown, ringed and spotted with dark brown. Back of ears black
with a white spot. Entire length 21s, tail % inches.
A specimen in the Leyden Museum bearing the MS. name of Felis punctulata, Temm., from Sumatra, also belongs to
this species. Its general colour is a light reddish brown covered with small dark brown spots, darkest on the back and
thighs, and most numerous on the latter. Head same colour as the body, two conspicuous white stripes between the
eyes and nose. Four narrow lines over the centre of the head and down the back of the neck blackish brown. Cheeks,
lips, throat, and entire underparts, inside of legs, and underpart of tail pure white. A band of dark brown across
the breast; belly spotted with reddish. A few dark brown spots on the shoulders. Ears white with black tips. Tail
same colour as body, irregularly and incompletely ringed with dark brown, near the tip blackish. Lower part of
legs and feet very light brown, approaching almost to white on the fore legs. The specimens in the same Museum
from Java are generally of a uniform dark grey with broken lines of blackish brown upon the back, and the flanks, shoulders,
and hind quarters more or less abundantly spotted with reddish brown. Tail dark grey, incompletely ringed with brown,
and tipped with dark brown. One specimen, however, from Java is much lighter, greyish brown with light spots and lines
on the sides and back. The tail is light red, incompletely ringed with a richer red. This is like Bornean and Sumatran
examples. Specimens also in the Museum from Borneo, Sumatra, and Malacca are very much alike in colour and
style of marking.
The skulls of different individuals of this species vary greatly in size and general appearance, as might be expected.
The face is short, with a more or less prominent forehead, nasals rather broad and flat, depressed at the edge of the
nasal cavity, forming a slight groove at the symphysis. In some cases, however, this is almost imperceptible. The nasals
narrow as they go upwards, and in some instances are almost pointed at their fronto-nasal articulation. The orbits
are complete in some skulls, incomplete in others ; and this happens also with individuals from the same locality. Inter-
orbital space rather wide; brain-case oblong and evenly rounded. A rather prominent crest rises on the postoccipital
region. The processes of the maxillas do not extend back so far as those of the nasals, and are rather pointed at their ends.
Two skulls of this species, as I consider them, referred by M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards to the F. chinensis of Gray, are
in the Paris Museum; and, by the courtesy of the late Prof. P. Gervais, I was enabled to examine them, and make
comparisons with other skulls of F. javensis from various localities; and, curiously enough, they resemble in general size and
conditions two skulls from Sumatra more nearly than any other in the collection. These two skulls belonging to Chinese
examples differ somewhat between themselves. One (No. 430) has the nasals rather shorter and broader than the other
(No. 532), and not so narrow at their articulation with the frontal bone. The upper border of the skull in its lateral aspect
in specimen No. 532 is flatter and not so arched as in No. 430. The infraorbital foramina of No. 532 (and this I believe is
one of the distinctions regarded as specific by M. Milne-Edwards) are small, and compressed laterally, giving them a rather
oblong appearance; but the same foramina in No. 430 are larger, round, and freely open. Although slightly larger in
size than many skulls of this species, I cannot see any thing in these sufficient to constitute their original owners
specifically distinct from F. javensis of other localities; and, as I have remarked previously, I consider whatever
differences they, exhibit to be merely due to that individual variation observed in all species of Cats, and which, indeed,
is exemplified in -these two specimens from China, which differ from each other.