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Show 394 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE FELIDAE. [^P1"* ** **• was endeavouring to catch ; its flight is remarkably strong and rapid. A pair of Falco lanulatus and a female of Accipiter torquatus committed the same rash act, and paid the penalty with their lives. Haliastur leucosternus was one of the first birds that greeted us as we entered the Clarence River, and, after flying round the steamer once or twice, ascended the river before us. A fine specimen of this species was shot by Mr. MacGillivray on the Clarence River during 1865. 2. Notes on certain species of Cats in the Collection of the British M u s e u m . By Dr. J O H N E D W A R D G R A Y , F.R.S., V.P.Z.S., F.L.S., &c. (Plates XXIV. & XXV.) Having to name some of the Cats recently received, it was requisite to compare them with those already in the collection ; and I herewith send some observations that I made on them when so occupied. The Leopard and the Serval of Africa are too well known to require any observation, except to remark that the Serval is by no means so variable in the form and disposition of the spots as the Leopard. There is a series of Cats from the West Coast of A frica that are very little known ; and, fortunately, there are in the British Museum the type specimens on which three of the species have been founded, and of two of them other and better specimens of the skins than those first described have been received and are in the collection, showing the distinctness of the species, which were each described from a single imperfect skin. The three very distinct species of Spotted Cats from West Africa, which have been described at different times by Mr. Waterhouse, Mr. Ogilby, and myself, all differ from the one from Guinea described by M . Temminck. M y Felis neglecta agrees with F. celidogaster in many particulars; but the spots are much smaller than M . Temminck describes, tbey are by no means of a chocolate or bright brown colour, and the tail is not ringed. These are just the characters by which the three skins in the British Museum are distinguished from each other. It is most probable that the F. celidogaster of Guinea is distinct from the Cats from the Gambia and Sierra Leone which are in the Museum. All the three, and, indeed, very many other Spotted Cats, have the belly distinctly spotted and the throat with a half collar ; so that the name F. celidogaster would be equally applicable to any of them. The three species in the Museum may be distinguished thus : 1. FELIS NEGLECTA, Gray, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 246; Mag N H 1838, p. 27. Grey; head and body marked with numerous small darker spots, |
