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Show 322 DR. J. E. GRAY ON A NEW CAT FROM BORNEO. [May 19, 4. Description of a new Species of Cat (Felis badia) from Sarawak. By Dr. J. E. G R A Y , F.R.S. &c. [Received April 29, 1874.] (Plate XLIX.) Mr. Wallace, in 1856, sent from Sarawak to the British Museum the skin of a small Cat (unfortunately so torn in being taken off as not to be able to be stuffed) and its skull. I have been waiting, in the hopes of getting a skin in more perfect condition; but as none has arrived I think it as well to describe the torn specimen, and draw the attention of naturalists to the existence of a small long-tailed Cat, of a nearly uniform reddish-brown colour, from that country. The skull has the short rounded face, and the back of the orbit interrupted, as in the restricted genus Felis, and belongs to an animal that, though it was not aged, had reached nearly the adult age. The skin is of a uniform or self-colour, like the Puma, the Eyra, and the Jaguarondi of South America, and agrees with them in the cheeks behind the eyes being coloured like the rest of the head, and destitute of the two pale rays from the back of the eye, so particular in most of the Cats of the Old World*. FELIS BADIA. (The Bornean Bay Cat.) (Plate XLIX.) Fur of a bright chestnut-colour, rather paler beneath, the limbs and the tail being rather paler and redder. The tail is elongate, tapering at the end, with a white central streak occupying the hinder half of the lower side, gradually becoming wider and of a purer white towards the tip, which has a small black spot at its upper end. The ears are rounded, covered with short blackish-brown fur at the outer side, paler brown within, and with a very narrow pale margin. The sides of the upper lip, a small spot on the front angle, and the edge of the upper eyelid pale brown. The chin, edge of the under jaw, and gullet whitish. Hab. Borneo, Sarawak (Wallace). B.M. This Cat has been thought to be a kitten of Felis temmincki of Sumatra and Nepaul; but that is a much larger species, and the skull proves this to be a nearly full-grown animal. The difference of the colouring of the head, with the two. streaks at the back of the eye, would distinguish even the kitten of F. temmincki from F. badia. The tail of F. temmincki agrees with that of F. badia in being whitish on the underside at the end, but is not so decidedly and definitely white as that of F. badia ; and it has not the very character- * Mr. Wolf, in the drawing of this Cat, indicates two palish streaks on the cheeks, which I cannot make out in the specimen, which is in a rather bad state. |
