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Show 758 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON VARIOUS FELIDA. [Dec. 5, perceptible, and the various markings, although true in position, are almost of a dark brownish black, whilst the original greyish colour of the ground has a larger element of fawn in it. I have no means of knowing with certainty from what point ot the hills this strongly marked variety was procured; but it was recently sent to me from Ceylon, and was obtained from the same person, a collector at Kandy, in whose hands I saw the three specimens previously mentioned. As most of the things which are brought to this person are collected within a radius of twelve or fifteen miles of Kandy, it is very probable that this specimen was not from any of the higher ranges of hills. P.S.-This variety has been examined by Dr. Jerdon and Mr. Blyth, and has been pronounced by the latter to be the same as that on which he founded his new Indian species, F. jerdoni (P. Z. S. 1863, p. 185). 10. Remarks on various Species of Felidse, with a Description of a Species from North-Western Siberia. By D. G. ELLIOT, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. [Eeceived December 5, 1871.] (Plate LXXVI.) Having had occasion lately to visit the Leyden Museum, in order to make some investigations in the difficult group comprising the genus Felis, I ascertained some facts which I consider may be useful for naturalists to know, and have therefore embodied them in the present communication. In the 'Monographies de Mammalogie,' published in 1827, Temminck described a Cat under the name of Felis aurata, the type of which had been purchased from a London dealer, and its habitat therefore not correctly known. The Golden Cat from Sumatra, Borneo, and Nepal, named by Hodgson F. moor-mensis (P. Z. S. 1832, p. 10), has been considered by mammalo-gists generally to be the same as the one described by Temminck, and it has been quoted and figured under the name of aurata in various publications by the majority of authors. It was therefore with no little surprise that, on seeing the typical F. aurata in Leyden, I ascertained that it was not the F. moormensis oi Hodgson, but a species inhabiting the Gold Coast, which had been named rutila by Waterhouse in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1842, p. 130. The two animals from Nepal & c , and from Africa, resemble each other in being both of a general red colour; and therefore it was excusable that authors, judging only from descriptions, aud not having seen Temminck's type, should have confounded it with Hodgson's species, which, however, is very distinct. Prof. Schlegel had intended to publish a memoir upon this species of M . Temminck, in order to place the matter in its proper light, but gave up the pro- |
