Part I. Cats, Civets, And Mungooses

Vice-President of the Geological Society , etc., etc., etc.

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Preface

The present volume deals with the members of the Carnivora, with which most people are familiar, viz., the Cats, and I am again indebted to Mr. Lydekker for a most useful summary of our present knowledge of these animals, and also for his very interesting conclusion to the work, wherein he deals with the extinct members of the Order.

To one trained like myself, by long years of work in the held of ornithological synonymy and literature, the nomenclature employed for some of the Mammalia appears somewhat strange ; but 1 am glad to say that I have induced the author to latinise the generic term “Linsang” into Linsanga.

The duplication of the generic and specific names, for the necessity of which I always strongly insist, whenever Linnean specific names have been misappropriated for generic titles by subsequent writers', appears to be necessary in only three instances in the present volume. Mr. Lydekker, as is well known, does not hold with the practice, but, in my opinion, the name of the Common Genet should be Genet la genet ta (L.), that of the Meerkat, Suricata suricatta (Erxl.), and that of Daubenton’s Civet, Fossa fossa (Schreb.).

R. BOWDLER SHARPE.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

Among the great Order of Carnivorous Mammals the Cats will always claim the largest share of general interest, not only on account of their including some of the largest and most powerful of all beasts of prey, but likewise from the beauty of their form, the elegance of their coloration, and the gracefulness and activity of their movements. Accordingly, in the present volume of the “Naturalist’s Library,” this group of the Order has been treated in comparatively full detail, and a large number of the species illustrated by plates, whereas in the lessknown group of Civets, Mungooses, &c., the amount of space devoted to each genus and species is naturally less, and the illustrations are much less numerous.

In both groups every existing species hitherto described is mentioned, together with its most important synonymy ; but in several instances the question of the right of a particular form to be regarded as a species, or merely as a variety, is left more or less open. In the compilation of the volume especial assistance has been derived from Mr. W. 1 . Blanford’s “ Mammals of British India,” from Professor St. George Mivart’s work on “The Cat,” and his papers on the Cats and Civets in the “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” and also from various memoirs by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, published in the same serial.

RICHARD LYDEKKER.

SYSTEMATIC INDEX.

PAGE

ORDER CARNIVORA ... i

FAMILY FELID.E ... i

I. Feus, L 26

4. uncia, Schreb. ... 92

5. onca, L 95

7. nebulosa, Griff. ... 113

8. marmorata, Martin 117

9. scripta, Milne- Edw. 119

10. tristis, Milne-Edw. 120

11. temmincki,V. and II. 120

12. planiceps, V. and II . 121

14. viverrina, Benn. ... 123

15. bengalensis, Kerr ... 126

16. euptilura, Elliot ... 132

17. rubiginosa, I. Gcoffr. 133

19. togoensis, Matschie 137

20. chrysothrix, Temm. 137

21. celidogaster, Temm. 138

23. tigrina, Schreb. ... 144

24. guigna, Molina ... 149

25. pardinoides, Gray . . . 150

26. jaguarondi, Fischer 151

A hand-book to the carnivora

About this book

Part I. Cats, Civets, And Mungooses

Preface

The end

A hand-book to the carnivora

About this book

Part I. Cats, Civets, And Mungooses

Preface

The end

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