nches; tail only 10 to 13; height about
15 or 16; weight according to Hodgson and Jerdon, about 17 lbs.

The frontal and jugal bones in old specimens of this species are
united by a bar which forms a complete bony orbit--a peculiarity
possessed, as I have before observed, by _F. longicaudata_, but by
few other felines. _Felis rubiginosa_, _F. planiceps_, and _F.
Ellioti_ are also cats of this type, which Gray has separated into
the genus _Viverriceps_.

This large cat is not uncommon near Calcutta, and is reputed to live
much on fish and fresh-water shells, but also I should say on larger
game. According to some authors (Buchanan-Hamilton, for instance),
it is fierce and untameable, but Blyth states that he had several
big toms, quite tame, and in the Surrey Zoological Gardens there was
many years ago a very fine male which he had frequently handled and
had even on his lap. He relates, however, in another part, that a
newly caught male of this species killed a tame young leopardess of
twice its own size, having broken through the partition of a cage,
but he did not eat any portion of her. The Prince of Wales took home
a very fine specimen of this cat among his collection of living
animals.

Mr. Rainey writes of the ferocity of this cat in the following terms:
"I can testify to the existence of the above qualities in this animal
(_Felis viverrina_, Bennett), which is rather abundant in these
parts, generally taking up its quarters in low, swampy jungle, where
it often carries off calves, for which the leopard (_F. leopardus_,
Linn.), undeservedly gets credit. Lately, a couple of months ago,
a pair of them at night broke into a matted house, and went off with
a brace of ewes, which had half-a-dozen lambs between them, born only
a short time before their mothers met with their bloody end. I have
caught this species in traps, and when let loose in an indigo vat
with a miscellaneous pack of dogs, they have invariably fought hard,
and at times proved too much for their canine adversaries, so that
I have had to go to their rescue, and put an end to the fight, by
a spear-thrust, or a heavy whack on the back of the head with a stout
club. Some years ago one got into my fowl-house at night, and just
as I opened the door to enter inside, it made a fierce jump at me
from a perch on the opposite side. I had just time to put the barrel
of my gun forward, on the muzzle of which it fell, and had its chest
blown to atoms, as I pulle