pable of restraint, and consequently of being educated to any extent. However, we are told that the Greeks in the island of Cyprus trained this animal to catch and devour serpents, with which that island was greatly infested. He has no delicacy of scent, like the dog; he hunts only by the eye: neither does he properly pursue, but rather lies in wait, and attacks animals by surprise; and, after he has caught them, sports with and torments them a long time. The eye of the cat differs greatly from that of most other animals: the pupil being capable of a great degree of contraction and dilatation. It is narrow and contracted like a line during the day, round and wide in the dark. It is from this conformation of the eye that the cat sees best in the night, which gives him a great advantage in discovering and seizing his prey. Cats have a natural antipathy to cold and wetness. They likewise hate bad smells; but they are fond of certain aromatics, and particularly of catmint, and valerian. Cats take about eighteen months before they come to full growth; but they are capable of propagation in twelve months, and retain this faculty all their life, which generally extends to nine or ten years. They eat slowly, and are peculiarly fond of fish. They drink frequently; their sleep is light. They walk softly, and without making any noise. As their hair is always dry, it easily gives out an electrical fire, which becomes visible when rubbed in the dark. Their eyes likewise sparkle in the dark like diamonds. The cat, when pleased, purrs, and moves its tail: when angry, it spits, hisses, and strikes with its foot. It washes its face with its fore paws before rain, and stretches itself, &c., at the approach of a storm. These peculiarities are probably owing to its abounding with the electric fluid. It always lights on its feet, and is proverbially tenacious of life. Our ancestors seem to have had a high sense of the utility of this animal. Hoel Dda, or Howel the Good, among his laws relating to the prices, &c., of animals, includes that of the cat; and describes the qualities it ought to have. The price of a kitten before it could see was to be a penny; till it caught a mouse, two-pence; when it commenced mouser, four-pence. It was required besides, that it should be perfect in its senses of hearing and seeing, be a good mouser, have the claws whole, and be a good nurse; but if it failed in any of these qualities, the seller was to forfeit to the buyer the third part of its value. any one stole or killed the cat that guarded the prince's granary, he was to forfeit a milch ewe, its fleece, and lamb; or as much wheat as, when poured on the cat suspended by its tail, the head touching the floor, would form a heap high enough to cover the tip of the former. Leges Wallica, p. 247, 248. If F. catus ferus, the wild cat, is three or four times as large as the house cat; the head larger, and the face flatter. The teeth and claws are tremendous its muscles very strong, as being formed for rapine: the tail is long and very thick, marked with alternate bars of black or brown, and white, the end always black; the hips and hind part of the lower joints of the leg are black; the fur is very soft and fine. The general color is a yellowish-white, or yellowishbrown and whitish, mixed with deep gray or blackish stripes. These colors though they appear at first sight confusedly blended together, yet on a close inspection are found to be disposed like the streaks on the skin of the tiger, pointing from the back downwards, rising from a black list that runs from the head along the middle of the back to the tail, while those on the sides are perpendicular or spiral. This animal, with us, may be called the British tiger. It is the fiercest and most destructive beast we have; making dreadful havoc among our poultry, lambs, and kids. It inhabits the most mountainous and woody parts of these islands, living mostly in trees, and feeding only by night. They are taken either in traps or by shooting: in the latter case, it is very dangerous only to wound them, for they will attack the person who injured them; and have strength enough to be no despicable enemy. Wild cats were formerly reckoned among the beasts of chase, as appears by the charter of Richard II. to the abbot of Peterborough, giving him leave to hunt the hare, fox, and wild cat. The fur was used for the lining of robes; but it was esteemed not of the most luxurious kind; for it was ordained, that no abbess or nun should use more costly apparel than such as is made of lambs' or cats' skins.' This animal is now become very scarce in Britain; one was killed some years ago in Cumberland, and another in Warwickshire. They are more frequently found in the North of Scotland, and are still common in the Hebrides. This species is the stock or origin of the domestic cat in all its varieties. It inhabits the woods of most parts of Europe, but is not found in the vast woods of Russia or Siberia. It dwells with the common lynx in all the wooded parts of the mountains of Caucasus and their neighbourhood; and is most destructive to lambs, kids, fawns, and all sorts of feathered game. F. concolor, the puma, the couguar of Buffon, has a very small head, ears a little pointed, and eyes large. According to some zoologists, the back, neck, rump, and sides, are of a pale brownish red, mixed with dusky hairs; the breast, belly, and inside of the legs, cinereous: but Gmelin and Kerr say, the fur is of a uniform lively red color, tinged with black, having no spots.' The tail is dusky and ferruginous, the tip black; and the teeth are of a vast size. It is as big as a large wolf, being long bodied, and high on its legs; the length from nose to tail five feet three inches; that of the tail two feet eight. This animal inhabits the continent of America, from Canada to Brasil: in South America it is called Puma, and by Europeans is mistaken for the lion. It is the scourge of the colonies of the hotter parts of America, being fierce and ravenous in the highest degree. It swims over the broad rivers; attacks the cattle in the very enclosures; and, when pressed with hunger, spares not even mankind. In North America their fury seems to be subdued by the rigor of the climate; and the smallest cur, in company with its master, makes them seek for security, by running up trees. When they lie in wait for the moose, or other deer, they lie close on the branch of some tree till the animal passes beneath, when they drop down upon and soon destroy them. They also make wolves their prey. In the Museum of the Royal Society there is the skin of one which was killed just as it had pulled down a wolf. When it has satisfied itself with eating, it carefully conceals the rest of the carcase, covering it with leaves; if any other touches the relics, it never comes near them again. It sometimes purrs like a cat, and at other times makes a great howling. The fur is soft, and of some value among the Indians, who cover themselves with it during winter; and who also eat the flesh, which is said to be good and as white as veal. F. jubata, the hunting leopard, or Guepard of Buffon, is of the size of a large greyhound, of a long make, with a narrow chest and long legs. The color of the body is a light tawny-brown, marked with numbers of small round black spots; the neck is shaggy, having a mane four or five inches long; the hair on the belly is of the same length, and the tail is longer than the body. It inhabits India; where it is tamed, and trained for the chase of antelopes. For this purpose it is carried in a small kind of waggon, chained and hoodwinked, till it approaches the herd; when first unchained, it does not immediately make its attempt, but winds along the ground, stopping and concealing itself till it gets a proper advantage, and then darts on the animals with surprising swiftness. It overtakes them by the rapidity of its bounds, but if it does not succeed in its first efforts, consisting of five or six amazing leaps, it misses its prey losing its breath, and finding itself unequal in speed, it stands still, gives up the point for that tine, and returns to its master. This species is called in India, Chittah. It is used for the taking of jackals, as well as other animals. F. leo, the lion. The largest lions are from eight to nine feet in length, and from four to six feet high; those of a smaller size are generally about five feet and a half long, and about three and a half high. The head is very thick, and the face is beset on all sides with long bushy yellowish hair; this shaggy hair extends from the top of the head to below the shoulders; the belly and breast are likewise covered with long hair. The rest of the body is covered with very short hair, excepting a bush at the point of the tail. The ears are roundish, and almost entirely concealed under the hair of his front. The tail is long and very strong; the legs are thick and fleshy; and the feet are short: the claws are about an inch and a quarter long, of a whitish color, very crooked, and can be extended or retracted into the membranous sheath at pleasure their points are seldom blunted, as they are never extended but when he seizes his prey. The female, or lioness, has no mane about her head or shoulders; in her we see distinctly the whole face, head, ears, neck, shoulders, breast, &c.; all these parts being in some measure concealed under the long hair of the male, give a female a very different appearance; besides, she is considerably less than the male. The hair of both male and female is of a yellowish color, and whitish on the sides and belly. Naturalists are not agreed as to the ordinary period of life in this animal which is variously stated. Buffon concludes that it ought to be about twenty-five years, or seven times the space of three or four years, as it has been asserted of the lion that he acquires maturity in three or four years after his birth. It is, however, ascertained, that in some instances, the lion lives much beyond that time. The great lion called Pompey, which died in the Tower, is recorded to have lived in captivity above seventy years; and one brought from the river Gambia died there a few years since at the age of sixty-three. In warm countries, quadrupeds in general are larger and stronger than in the cold or temperate climates. They are likewise more fierce and hardy; all their natural qualities seem to correspond with the ardor of the climate. The lions nourished under the scorching sun of Africa or the Indies, are the most strong, fierce, and terrible. Those of mount Atlas, whose top is sometimes covered with snow, are neither so strong nor so ferocious as those of Biledulgerid or Zaara, whose plains are covered with burning sand. It is in these hot and barren deserts, that the lion is the dread of travellers, and the scourge of the neighbouring provinces. But the species is not very numerous, and they even appear to diminish daily. The Romans brought many more lions out of Libya for their public shows in one year, than are now to be found in the whole country. In short, in those countries which lions chiefly inhabit, their numbers were infinitely greater in former times than they are at present. It is scarcely to be conceived how, otherwise, the Romans were able to procure the prodigious number of these animals, which, from time to time, they exhibited in their public shows. Pliny has supplied us with details on this subject, which almost surpass belief. "Quintus Scævola,' he says, was the first who exhibited many of them at once, in the circus, during the time he was ædile. Sylla, in his prætorship, had 100 lions, all males, to fight at the same time.-Pompey afterwards 600 (of which 350 were males), and Cæsar 400.' Seneca, it is true, informs us, that those of Sylla had been sent to him by Bocchus, king of Mauritania; but, at this day, the princes of that country consider one or two of these animals as a grand present. The same abundance continued, during some time, under the emperors; but, in the second age, it appears to have begun to diminish, since Eutropius then considered the appearance of 100 lions, in the triumph of Marcus Aurelius, as an exhibition of great magnificence. The lions in Persia and the Indies are also said to be less numerous than formerly. As this formidable and courageous animal makes a prey of most other animals, and is himself a prey none, this diminution in the number of the species can be owing to nothing but an increase in the number of mankind; for the strength of this king of beasts is not a match for the dexterity and address of a negro or Hottentot, who will often dare to attack him face to face, and with very slight weapons. The ingenuity of mankind augments with their number; that of other animals continues always the same. This to superiority in the numbers and industry of mankind, at the same time that it has broken the vigor of the lion, seems likewise to have enervated his courage. In the vast deserts of Zaara; in those which separate the negroes and Moors, between Senegal and the boundaries of Mauritania; in those uninhabited regions above the country of the Hottentots; and, in general, in all the meridional parts of Africa and Asia, where mankind have disdained to dwell, lions are still as numerous and as ferocious as ever. Accustomed to measure their strength by that of in all other animals which they encounter the habit of conquering renders them haughty and intrepid. Having never experienced the strength of man, or the power of his arms, instead of discovering any signs of fear, they disdain and set him at defiance. Wounds irritate, but do not terrify them: they are not even disconcerted at the sight of numbers. A single lion of the desert has been known to attack a whole caravan; and if, after a violent and obstinate engagement, he finds himself weakened, he retreats fighting, always keeping his face to the enemy. On the other hand, the lions which live near the villages or huts of the Indians or Africans, being acquainted with man and the force of his arms, are so dastardly as to fly and leave their prey at the sight of women or children. A lion taken young, and brought up among domestic animals, will easily be accustomed to his master or keeper, and refrain from injuring them. When led into captivity, he will discover symptoms of uneasiness, without anger or peevishness; on the contrary, his natural temper softens, he obeys his master, caresses the hand that gives him food, and sometimes gives life to such animals as are thrown to him alive for prey; by this act of generosity he seems to consider himself as for ever bound to protect them: he lives peaceably with them; allows them a part, and sometimes the whole, of his food; and will rather submit to the pangs of hunger, than destroy the fruit of his beneficence. Ælian, quoting Eudemus, speaks of the affection entertained by a lion for a dog. He informs us, that a lion, a dog, and a bear, lived together in the most intimate friendship. The attachment between the two first was most tender. The dog, in one of his frolics, having by accident bitten the bear, the natural ferocity of that animal returned, and he tore the offender to pieces, but the irritated lion revenged the death of his companion, by immediately destroying the bear. But as his passions are impetuous and vehement, it is not to be expected, that the impressions of education will at all times be sufficient to balance them; for this reason it is dangerous to let him suffer hunger long, or to vex him by ill-timed teazings; bad treatment not only irritates him, but he remembers it long, and meditates revenge. Labat informs us of a gentleman, who kept a lion in his chamber, and employed a servant to attend it, and who as usual mixed his caresses with blows. One morning the gentleman was awakened by an unusual noise in his room, and drawing his curtains aside, he perceived the lion growling over the body of the unhappy man, whom it had just killed, and had separated his head from his body. The terror and consternation of the gentleman may be easily conceived; he flew out of the room, obtained assistance, and secured the animal. For his ordinary subsistence, the lion requires about fifteen pounds of raw flesh each day. The body of the lion appears to be the best model of strength joined with agility. The force of his muscles is expressed by his prodigious leaps and bounds, often twenty feet at once; by the brisk motion of his tail, a single sweep of which is sufficient to throw a man to the ground; by the ease with which he moves the skin of his face, and particularly of his forehead; and by the faculty of erecting and agitating the hair of his mane when irritated. Lions are very ardent in their amours; when the female is in season, she is often followed by eight or ten males, who roar incessantly, and enter into furious engagements, till one of them completely overcomes the rest, takes peaceable possession of the female, and carries her off to some secret recess. The length of time the lioness goes with young is variously stated by different writers; Ælian says two months, Philostratus six; among the moderns the period of gestation is said to be five months; but it has been clearly ascertained by La Cepéde, that the lioness goes with young 108 days, or rather more than three months and a half. A lion and lioness of about the same age having arrived from Northern Africa, at the menagerie of Paris, they were permitted to couple, which they did, five times in the same day. The first time the lioness was with young, she miscarried at the end of about two months, bringing forth two fetuses. The second time she produced, at the end of about 108 days, three young ones. One of these, about five hours after it came into the world, had the following measurements: Eighteen inches and a half from the fore part of the forehead to the origin of the tail; four inches and a quarter from the muzzle to the occiput; three inches and a quarter from one ear to the other; four inches and three quarters from the elbow to the end of the toes of the fore feet; three inches and three quarters from the knee to the heel; three inches and a half from the heel to the extremity of the toes of the hind feet; six inches and a quarter from the origin of the tail to its extremity. These little animals were, at first, entirely destitute of hair; and we are informed that the long hair or mane on the neck and round the face of one of the males, which survived the rest, did not begin to appear till he had attained the age of nearly three years and a half; and that, from that time, this has been continually increasing in quantity. He had no tuft at the end of his tail till about the same period. The hair of all the young animals of this litter was at first woolly, and not of the same color as that of their parents, but a mixed gray and red, marked by a great number of narrow brown stripes. These were very distinct at the middle of the back, and towards the origin of the tail; and they were disposed transversely on each side of a longitudinal stripe, of the same color, that extended from the back of the head to the end of the tail. When the mother was again with young, the three animals of the former litter became very mischievous. One of these, when about three months old, was driven, against his inclination, into the garden of the museum, when he made a spring at the keeper, Felix Cassel, and seized his arm with so much violence as to tear the sleeve of his coat. We are not able any further to describe the development of character in the above-mentioned three animals, since two of them have fallen victims to the first effects of dentition, an operation very dangerous to most animals that are produced in captivity. The lion that bit the keeper was one of those that died. came from out of the earth; at the same time, after listening with the greatest attention, I could not exactly hear from what quarter it came. The sound of the lion's voice does not bear the least resemblance to thunder, as M. de Buffon, tom ix. p. 22, from the voyage of Bouillage le Gouz, affirms it does. In fact, it appeared to me to be neither peculiarly piercing nor tremendous; yet, from its slow prolonged note, joined with nocturnal darkness, and the terrible idea one is apt to form to one's self of this animal, it made me shudder, even in such places as I had an opportunity of hearing it in with more satisfaction, and without having the least occasion for fear.' But when he is irritated his cry is shorter, All the passions of the lion, the soft passion repeated more suddenly, and is still more terrible of love not excepted, are excessive; the love than the roaring; he beats his sides with his of offspring is extreme: the lioness is naturally tail, stamps with his feet, erects and agitates the weaker, less bold, and more gentle than the lion; hair of his head and mane, moves the skin of but she becomes perfectly ferocious and terrible his face, shows his angry teeth, and lolls out his when she has young. She then regards no dan- tongue. The gait of the lion is stately, grave, ger; she attacks indifferently men and animals, and slow, though always in an oblique direction. kills them and carries them to her young ones, His movements are not equal or measured, but whom she thus early instructs to suck their blood consist of leaps and bounds; which prevent him and tear their flesh. She generally brings forth from stopping suddenly, and make him often in the most secret and inaccessible places; and, over-leap his mark. When he leaps upon his when afraid of a discovery, she endeavours to prey, he makes a bound of twelve or fifteen conceal the traces of her feet, by returning fre- feet, falls above it, seizes it with his fore feet, tears quently on her steps, or rather by effacing them the flesh with his claws, and then devours it with with her tail; and, when the danger is great, his teeth. If he chances to miss his leap, he she carries off her young, and conceals them will not follow his prey any farther; but, as if elsewhere. But, when an actual attempt is he were ashamed, turning round towards the made to deprive her of her young, she becomes place where he lay in ambush, slowly, and step perfectly furious, and defends them till she be by step, as it were, measures the exact length torn in pieces. The lion seldom goes abroad in between the two points, in order to find how the day; but sallies forth in the evening and much too short of, or beyond, the mark, he had night in quest of prey. He is afraid of fire, and taken his leap. One would suppose that the seldom or never approaches the artificial fires roaring of the lion would prove serviceable to made by the shepherds for the protection of the other animals, by warning them to betake their flocks; he does not trace animals by the themselves to flight; but as, when he roars, he scent, but is obliged to trust to his eye. Many puts his mouth to the ground, so that the sound historians have even represented him as incapa- is diffused equally all over the place, without ble of finding out his prey; alleging that he is its being possible to hear from what quarter it obliged to the jackal, an animal of exquisite comes, the animals are intimidated to such a descent, to provide for him, and that this animal gree, as to fly about backwards and forwards in either accompanies or goes before him for this the dark to every side; in consequence of which, purpose. The jackal, perhaps, sometimes fol- they often run on to the very spot from whence lows the lion, but it is to pick up what he leaves the sound proceeds, and which they meant most behind, not to provide for him. The lion, when to avoid. Dr. Sparrman, in his account of the hungry, will attack any animal that presents lion, detracts considerably from the character of itself; but he is so formidable, that all endeavour courage and generosity generally ascribed to that to avoid his rencounter; this circumstance often animal; and relates several anecdotes in proof obliges him to conceal himself, and lie in wait of his opinion. A yeoman,' says Dr. Sparrman, till some animal chances to pass. He lies squat a man of veracity, related to me an adventure on his belly in a thicket; from which he springs he had in these words: one day walking over with such force and velocity, that he mostly his lands with his loaded gun, he unexpectedly seizes them at the first bound. He endures met with a lion. Being an excellent shot, he hunger longer than thirst; he seldom passes thought himself pretty certain, in the position water without drinking, which he does by lap- he was in, of killing it; he therefore fired his ping like a dog. In burning deserts, where piece. Unfortunately he did not recollect that rivers and fountains are denied, they live in a the charge had been in it for some time, and perpetual fever, a sort of madness fatal to every consequently was damp, so that his piece hung animal they meet with. The roaring of the fire, and the ball, falling short, entered the lion,' says Dr. Sparrman, consists in a hoarse ground close to the lion. In consequence of inarticulate sound, which at the same time seems this he was seized with a panic, and took directly to have hollowness in it, something like that to his feet; but being soon out of breath, and proceeding from a speaking trumpet. The sound closely pursued by the lion, he jumped upon a is between that of a German u and an o, being little heap of stones, and there made a stand, drawn to a great length, and appearing as if it presenting the butt-end of his gun to his adver sary, fully resolved to defend his life as well as he could to the utmost. My friend did not take upon him to determine whether this position and manner of his intimidated the lion or not; it had, however, such an effect upon the creature, that it likewise made a stand, and, what was sull more singular, laid itself down at the distance of a few paces from the heap of stones, seemingly quite unconcerned. The sportsman in the mean while did not dare to stir a step from the spot; besides, in his flight, he had the misfortune to lose his powder-horn. At length, after waiting a good half hour, the lion rose up, and at first went very slowly, and step by step, as if he had a mind to steal off, but as soon as it got to a greater distance it began to bound away at a great rate.' An elderly Hottentot,' says the same writer, 'in the service of a Christian, near the upper part of Sunday River, on the Cambdebo side, perceived a lion following him at a great distance for two hours together. Thence he naturally concluded, that the lion only waited for the approach of darkness in order to make him his prey, and in the mean time could not expect any other than to serve for this fierce animal's supper, inasmuch as he had no other weapon of defence than a stick, and knew that he could not get home before it was dark. But as he was well acquainted with the nature of the lion, and the manner of its seizing upon its prey, and at the same time had leisure between whiles to ruminate on the ways and means in which it was most likely that his existence would be put an end to, he at length hit upon a method of saving his life. For this purpose, instead of making the best of his way home, he looked out for a kilpkrans (so they generally call a rocky place, level and plain at the top, and having a perpendicular precipice on one side of it), and sitting down on the edge of one of these precipices, he found, to his great joy, that the lion likewise made a halt, and kept the same distance as before. As soon as it grew dark, the Hottentot, sliding a little forwards, let himself down below the upper edge of the precipice upon some projecting part or cleft of the rock, where he could just keep himself from falling. But, in order to cheat the lion still more, he set his hat and cloak on the stick, making with it, at the same time, a gentle motion, just over his head, and a little way from the edge of the mountain. This crafty expedient had the desired success. He did not stay long in this situation before the lion came creeping softly towards him like a cat, and, mistaking the skin cloak for the Hottentot himself, took his leap with such exactness and precision, as to fall headlong down the precipice directly close to the snare which had been set up for him.' The strength of the lion is very great. We are informed by Dr. Sparrman, that this animal was once seen at the Cape to take a heifer in nis mouth, and though the legs of the latter dragged on the ground, yet seened to carry her off with the same ease as a cat does a rat. It likewise leaped over a broad dike with her without the least difficulty. A buffalo perhaps would be too cumbersome for this beast of prey, not withstanding his strength, to seize and carry off with him in this manner. Two yeomen, upon whose veracity I can place some confidence, gave me the following account. Being a hunting near Boshies-man River with several Hottentots, they perceived a lion dragging a buffalo from the plain to a neighbouring woody hill. They, however, soon forced it to quit its prey, in order to make a prize of it themselves; and found that this wild beast had had the sagacity to take out the buffalo's large and unwieldly entrails, to be able the easier to make off with the fleshy and more eatable part of the carcase. The lion's strength, however, is said not to be sufficient alone to get the better of so large and strong an animal as the buffalo; but, to make it his prey, this fierce creature is obliged to have recourse both to agility and stratagem; insomuch that, stealing on the buffalo, it fastens with both its paws upon the nostrils and mouth of the beast, and keeps squeezing them close together, till at length the creature is strangled, wearied out, and dies. Buffaloes which had escaped from the clutches of lions, bore the marks of the claws of these animals about their mouths and noses. The lion itself, however, risked its life in such attempts, especially if any other buffalo were at hand to rescue that which was attacked. A traveller once had an opportunity of seeing a female buffalo with her caif, defended by a river at her back, keep for a long time at bay five lions, which had partly surrounded her, but did not dare to attack her. I have been informed, from very good authority, that on a plain to the east of Kromme River, a lion had been gored and trampled to death by a herd of cattle, having, urged probably by hunger, ventured to attack them in broad day light. This the reader will, perhaps, not so much wonder at, when he is informed, that in the day time, and upon an open plain, twelve or sixteen dogs will easily get the better of a large lion. Some other important particulars, such as the hunting, &c., of the lion, together with some account of the late combats of the lions and bull dogs, we shall give under the English name of this animal. See LION. F. leopardus, the leopard, differs from the panther and the ounce, in the beauty of his color, which is a lively yellow, with smaller spots than those of the two latter, and disposed in groups. He is larger than the ounce, and less than the panther, being about four feet long, and the tail from two to two feet and a half. He inhabits Senegal and Guinea, and, when beasts of chase fail, descends from the internal parts of Africa among the numerous herds that cover the rich meadows of the lower Guinea. It tears its prey to pieces with both claws and teeth; but is always thin, though perpetually devouring. The panther is its enemy, and destroys numbers of them. The negresses make collars of their teeth, and attribute to them certain virtues. The negroes take these animals in pit-falls, covered at the top with slight hurdles, on which is placed some flesh as a bait. They make a banquet of their flesh, which is said to be as white as veal, and very well tasted. Leopards' skins are often brought to Europe, and |