Felis Pardalis. Linn.

“Of all the animals with tigrine skins,” says Buffon, “the male Ocelot has unquestionably the most beautiful and at the same time the most elegantly variegated robe; that of the Leopard himself does not approach it in liveliness of colour or regularity of design.” That this estimate is by no means exaggerated will readily be allowed by all who have had an opportunity of seeing this truly beautiful creature, which may unquestionably be regarded as the beau ideal of a cat. Nearly equal in size to the Lynx of Europe, but shorter in its proportions and more graceful in its form, it holds, as it were, a middle station between the Leopard and the domestic cat.[54] Its body, when full grown, is nearly three feet in length, and its tail rather more than one; while its medium height may be reckoned at about eighteen inches. The ground colour of its fur is gray mingled with a slight tinge of fawn; and on this it is elegantly marked with numerous longitudinal bands, the dorsal one being continuous and entirely black, and the lateral, to the number of six or seven on each side, consisting for the most part of a series of elongated spots with black margins, sometimes completely distinct, and sometimes running together. The centre of each of these spots offers a deeper tinge of fawn than the ground colour external to them; and this deeper tinge is also conspicuous on the upper part of the head and neck, and on the outside of the limbs, all of which parts are irregularly marked with full black lines and spots of various sizes. From the top of the head, between the ears, there pass backwards, towards the shoulders, two, or more frequently four, uninterrupted diverging bands, which are full black anteriorly, but generally bifurcate posteriorly and enclose a narrow fawn-coloured space within a black margin; between these there is a single longitudinal somewhat interrupted narrow black line, occupying the centre of the neck above. The ears are short and rounded, and externally margined with black, surrounding a large central whitish spot. The under parts of the body are whitish, spotted with black, and the tail, which is of the same ground colour with the body, is also covered with blackish spots.

The description above given is chiefly derived from the comparison of two living specimens, the one existing in the Menagerie of the Tower, the other in that of the[55] Zoological Society, at their gardens in the Regent’s Park. There is one circumstance, however, of which it may be necessary to offer some explanati............