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Show 1871.] MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON VARIOUS FELIDvE. 759 ject on learning that I was investigating the group ; and I take opportunity of expressing m y thanks for his kindness and assistance during the time I was at work in the magnificent museum over which he so worthily presides. In the same monograph already mentioned, M . Temminck has also described a Cat, which he procured at the sale of Mr. Bullock's collection in London, as F. celidogaster, the habitat being then unknown; but in the 'Esquisses Zoologiques,' published in 1853, p. 86, he redescribes the species from a specimen received from the coast of Guinea. This supposed distinct species, however, proves to be only a light-coloured variety of Temminck's Felis aurata from the same locality, as there is in the museum a flat skin, also from the Gold Coast, of a Cat which is intermediate between the two extremes deemed distinct by Temminck. In the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History' (1838), vol. i. p. 27, Dr. J. E. Gray described a Cat from the Gambia as F. neglecta. It was founded on a flat skin wanting the head. By the kindness of Prof. Schlegel I have been enabled to bring the type of F. celidogaster to London, and compare it with Dr. Gray's neglecta, and I find that the two are identical and cannot be separated. The synonymy, then, of the two species described respectively by Temminck and Hodgson from the Gold Coast and Nepal will be as follows:- FELIS AURATA. Felis aurata, Temm. Mon. Mamm. 1827, p. 120; Vig. Zool. Journ. vol. ii. p. 530. Felis rutila, Waterhouse, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1842, p. 130 ; Grav, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, pp. 272, 395; id. Cat. Carn. M a m . 1869, p. 23. sp. 14. Felis celidogaster, Temm. Mon. M a m m . 1827, p. 140 ; id. Es-quiss. Zool. 1853, p. 86 (light variety). Felis neglecta, J. E. Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1838, vol. i. p. 27 ; Sclat. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1860, p. 246 (light variety). Felis chalybeata, IT. Smith, Griff. Anim. King. 1827, vol. ii. p. 474. pl. (light variety). General colour above red, indistinctly spotted on the sides, spots small in size ; beneath white, spotted with blackish brown; tail red above, white beneath, unspotted ; no white marks upon the face, which is of the same red colour as the back and sides. Hab. Gold Coast of Africa. FELIS MOORMENSIS. Felis moormensis, Hodgson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, p. 10. Leopardus auratus, J. E. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 265 ; id. Cat. Carn. M a m . 1869, p. 12. Felis aurata, Sclat. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 815, pl. 36, et 1868, p. 647; Blyth, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 185. Felis temminckii, Vigors and Horsf. Zool. Journ. vol. iii. p. 451 (jun.). |
