mountainous tracts of Mexico and Brazil these animals are abundant, hiding themselves amidst the foliage of trees, whence they spring upon their prey beneath. They are reported frequently to stretch them selves out motionless on the branches of trees, to induce the monkey to approach and examine them, which with his usual curiosity he is in such circumstances prompted to do; this curiosity, however, is only the instant prelude to his destruction. These animals are scarcely capable of being tamed, and in captivity display incessant restlessness and ferocity.

F. tigrina, or the Cayenne cat, resembles the wild cat in size, habit, and character; is most elegantly spotted with black on a tawny ground, and is frequently to be found in various parts of South America. It is extremely wild and untameable. The spotted species of this genus of animals have been often so imperfectly marked by travellers, that much remains to be done before a complete description of them can be obtained and the remoteness of their haunts from human habitations, which can be approached only amidst dangers in superable by all but extraordinary minds and constitutions, will, there is reason to presume, long preclude their correct definition and full detail.

F. catus, or the common cat. The numerous varieties of the domestic cat are supposed to have proceeded from a race native in the north of Europe and Asia. In the wild state its tail is somewhat shorter than in the state of domestication; its head is more flat, and its limbs are more muscular and bony. The general colour of the wild cat is that of a pale yellowish-grey, with dusky stripes and variegations; there are, however, great varieties both of colour and size. Wild cats are found not only in Europe and Asia, but also in America, where they existed before its discovery by Columbus. In Great Britain they are found chiefly in the mountainous and woody districts of the island; and, as being the most rapacious quadrupeds in the country, have been designated by Mr. Pennant as the British tigers. They range by night in quest of prey, and commit fatal depredations on kids, poultry, and lambs; they likewise devour hares, small birds, and various species of vermin. They breed and principally reside in trees; and are equally prolific with the domestic cat. In the neighbourhood of the former the latter will often quit its residence for a short

time, and after associating during this interval with the wild cat, will return to its former mansion. These animals are frequently destroyed by means both of traps and guns; the latter of which mode, however, is attended with some danger, as, if only slightly wounded, they will, without hesitation, attack the assailant in their turn and inflict no contemptible revenge. In the county of Cumberland one of these animals was killed, not many years since, which measured from its nose to the end of its tail upwards of five feet. The cat is generally imagined to see best in the dark; and so peculiar is the structure of its eye that the pupil is capable of contraction and dilatation, in proportion to the degree of light affecting it. This circumstance gives it a most important advantage in exploring and seizing its prey. The character and manners of these animals in their state of domestication, are so generally known as almost to preclude the necessity of at all noticing them. Their expressions, whether of pain, anger, or love, are piercing, clamorous, and extremely harsh and hideous to the human ear. On the utterance of the sounds of distress by a single individual, multitudes will often assemble and appear to express their compassion by the most disgusting squalls and yellings. The result, however, frequently is, that the sufferer from disease or accident, from which the original call proceeded, is torn to pieces by its companions, who, not uncommonly, afterwards fall upon each other with the most savage fierceness, inflicting wounds and death without the least sensibility or discrimination. These sanguinary contests are uniformly carried on by night, and instances are related, on respectable authority, in which they have been conducted with the most destructive havoc. Cats are remarkably fond of certain perfumes, both vegetable or mineral; and, on this account are often very injurious to a garden or green-house, destroying the plants to which they are so partial. Cold and wet are avoided by these creatures with particular care, and their habits are peculiarly neat and cleanly, their fur being preserved by them, until in extreme age, from the slightest soil; and the most elegant and splendid furniture being in no danger from annoyance by them. The female is frequently obliged to conceal her young from the male, to preclude their being injured and even devoured by him; yet, in some instances, the female herself has been ascertained, in opposition to one

of the most grand and prevailing instincts of nature, to eat them immediately on producing them; in general, however, the young are nursed with particular attention and affection, and the accommodation of the parent to the sportive propensities and varying gambols of the kitten, constitutes to the humane and even the philosophic mind an interesting spectacle. With respect to human beings, even those which have long protected and befriended it, the cat appears little susceptible of kind attachment on the change of habitations, quitting the family with which it had always lived, and returning to apartments to which, indeed, it had been long used, but where it could recognize no human friend. In this respect its manners exhibit a most disadvantageous contrast to those of the dog, which are in the highest degree social, affectionate, and grateful. The cat, however, often lives in habits of friendly intercourse with various animals in a state of similar domestication with itself, and to which in a state of nature it feels an almost unconquerable hostility. A French lady, of some eminence, by persevering attention and discipline, at length succeeded in accomplishing the extraordinary exploit of habituating her dog and cat, her bird and mouse, to take their food from the same plate. Cats are, though in general, by no means profound sleepers; often, and particularly in the depth of winter and on the approach of snow, can be roused from their sleep only with extreme difficulty; and will, on these occasions, exhale a fragrance similar to that of cloves. On rubbing the backs of these animals the electric spark is immediately felt, and the Leyden vial may, in frosty weather, be charged from this source by means of a connecting wire, and a glass-footed stool. Those who are pleased with contemplating the operations of animated surprise or curiosity, in any of the productions of nature, will be not a little entertained by the experiment of placing before a young cat, for the first time, a looking-glass: its delight at the figure thus exhibited is soon allayed by that impossibility of touching it which it finds to all its attempts: it at length looks behind the glass, and with great suddenness and vivacity shifts its examination both forwards and backwards, till at last it appears to observe the correspondence between the reflections on the mirror and the movements of its own foot gliding in various directions over the surface, and seems to have developed the mystery originally so perplexing. VOL. III.

F. lynx, or the lynx, is remarkable for its ears being long and erect, and tufted at the end with long black hairs. The skin of the male is more spotted than that of the female. In America and the North of Europe these animals are to be found in great abundance. They subsist by hunting squirrels, ermines, weasels, and other vermin; which they will pursue to the very tops of extremely high trees. They conceal themselves often among the branches, and watch with minute observation the approach of hares, deer, and other animals, which they seize with astonishing agility, and after having drank their blood reject the carcases almost entirely; devouring often, of a whole sheep, little more than the brain and liver. When attacked by a dog this animal places itself on its back, and seizing the throat of its adversary often actually suffocates it, or obliges it at least to retire from the conflict. The sight of the lynx is proverbially acute; its howling greatly resembles that of a wolf; in confinement it appears restless, malignant, and untameable, almost constantly uttering a snarling scream. The fur of these animals is an important article of commerce. The farther north they are taken the whiter and more valuable they are; and the winter furs are preferable to the summer ones. The length of a Russian lynx, from nose to tail, is four feet six inches. The lynx of the ancients appears to have been the creature of imagination. See Mammalia, Plate XIV. fig. 4.

From the lion to the common cat, through all the intermediate species of this abundant genus, a strong resemblance exists in form, internal structure, and habits; the shortness of the intestinės, the sharpness and number of the teeth, the structure of the feet and claws are the same in all; they all feed on flesh, which they rather tear than masticate; they eat with slowness, and during the repast growl almost perpetually, as if apprehensive of its being intercepted from them; they all seize upon their prey by crafty approach and stealthy stratagem, rather than by open and intrepid attack. These are the animals from which man has most to apprehend, and which have hither. to, in every age, more or less, carried on hostilities against him. The power of some creatures is greater, but their tempers are less ferocious, and they exercise their strength not in acts of aggression but only in those of retaliation; and others, while they are inexpressibly more numerous, are, at the same time, destitute of any formid

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