ww

Tiger pursuing a man on horseback. voked ferocity, unnecessary cruelty, and poltroonery of the Tiger, becomes ridiculous, though led by such names as Buffon and Pennant. The lion has owed a good deal to his mane and his noble and dignified aspect; but appearances are not always to be trusted. Mr. Barrow, with much more truth, characterizes the king of beasts as powerful but treacherous. Happy,' says that traveller, for the peasantry, the Hottentots, and those animals that are the objects of its destruction, were its noble and generous nature, that so oft has fired the imagination of poets, realized, and that his royal paw disdained to stain itself in the blood of any sleeping creature! The lion, in fact, is one of the most indolent of all the beasts of prey, and never gives himself the trouble of a pursuit unless hard pressed by hunger.'

Pennant gives the following as an instance, after stating that there is a sort of cruelty in the devastations of the tiger unknown to the generous lion, as well as poltroonery in its sudden retreat on any disappointment: I was informed by very good authority, that in the beginning of this century some gentlemen and ladies, being on a party of pleasure under the shade of trees, on the banks of a river in Bengal, observed a tiger preparing for its fatal spring; one of the ladies, with amazing presence of mind, laid hold of an umbrella and furled it full in the animal's face, which instantly retired, and gave the company an opportunity of removing from so terrible a neighbour."

beast. It is worthy of observation, that neither the large fire that was blazing close to them, nor the noise and laughter which it seems they were making at the time, could divert this determined animal from his purpose.' Contrast this with the story told by Sparrman, of the adventure of Jacob Kok, of Zee-koe-rivier [LION, vol. xiv., p. 32], in which the Lion, though warmed with the ardour of chasing the terrified Jacob, was daunted when, in his extremity, he faced the infuriated beast from a small heap of stones, presenting the butt-end of his shotless gun to his brutal enemy. This was poltroonery, if such a term be applicable

This is a very pretty story, and the heroine deserves all praise, though it is not very clear what is meant by furling an umbrella, so as to make the alleged act square with the context, and the tiger was undoubtedly very polite. But tigers spring from a considerable distance, 15 or 20 feet, and from ambush; and we suspect that a cross-examination of the parties concerned might have slightly damaged the anecdote. Granting, however, that this bold lady walked up to a crouched tiger, and suddenly opened an umbrella in its face (for that, we presume, is the action meant), we may easily conceive that the surprise may have utterly confounded him; but this is not poltroonery. Indeed the same author immediately afterwards gives a tolerable proof of the animal's daring: Another party had not the same good fortune: a tiger darted among them while they were at dinner, seized on one gentleman, carried him off, and he never was more heard of.'

tc beasts.

But if any doubt as to the courage of the tiger be enter tained, Father Tachard's account of a combat between that beast and two elephants at Siam will be sufficient proof. He relates that a lofty bamboo palisade was erected, occupying an area of about 100 feet square. Into this enclosure two elephants were introduced with their heads and trunks shielded by a kind of mask. A large tiger was now brought from its den, and held with cords till one of the elephants approached and inflicted two or three blows on its back with his trunk, so heavily laid on that it fell stunned, as if dead. Then they loosed the tiger. No sooner did he recover than he sprang with a dreadful roar at the elephant's trunk stretched out in act to strike him; but the wary elephant drew up his trunk, and receiving the tiger on his tusks, hurled him into the air. This checked the fury of the tiger, as it well might, and he gave up the contest with the elephant; but he ran several times round the palisade, frequently springing at the spectators. Afterwards three elephants were set upon him, and they in turn dealt him such heavy blows that he again lay senseless, and would have been killed, if the combat, as it is most incorrectly called, had not been stopped. Nothing could be more unfair towards the tiger than the whole of this proceeding; and we will venture to say that no quadruped except a British bull-dog could have shown more 'pluck, to use a vulgar but expressive term, than this shamefully treated beast.

But there is another story, a very sad one, which is pregnant with proof of the tiger's hardihood; we allude to the distressing death of Sir Hector Monro's son. Mr. Wood (Zoography) relates the horrible occurrence in a few words:

6

This unfortunate gentleman,' says Mr. Wood, accompanied by three of his friends, went on shore, December 22, 1792, on Sawgar Island to shoot deer. They continued their sport till the afternoon, when they retired to the edge of a jungle to refresh themselves; where they had not remained long before one of the party, who was leaving the rest to shoot a deer, heard a dreadful roar, and saw a large tiger spring on poor Monro, and rush with him into the jungle with the greatest ease, dragging him through everything that obstructed his course, as if all were made to yield to his amazing strength. All that his companions could do to rescue their friend from this shocking situation was to fire at the tiger; and it is evident that their shots took place, since, in a few minutes after, Mr. Monro staggered up to them covered with blood, and fell. Every medical assistance that the ship afforded was procured for him immediately, but in vain; he expired in the course of twenty-four hours in the greatest agonies. His head was torn, his skull fractured, and his neck and shoulders covered with wounds made by the claws of the savage

The older authors generally state that after the tiger has secured its prey it plunges its head into the body of the animal up to its very eyes, as if to satiate itself with blood till the corpse is exhausted, before it tears it to pieces. The best modern accounts tend to prove that the tiger is not more bloodthirsty and has no more bloodsucking propensities than the other great cats; and that this blood-drinking habit is grossly exaggerated.

The tigress brings forth three or four, or four or five cubs at a time; and she is a very fond mother, braving every danger for them, and furiously attacking man and beast in their defence. The antients knew this well. See Martial (lib. iii., Epig. 44) :—

Tune gravis illa viro, tunc orba tigride pejor:'

and though it is on record that a tigress in modern times devoured her cub, one should remember that this unnatural act was done in captivity, and that rabbits, sows, and cats have done the same. But that in a state of nature the maternal feeling is very strong in the tigress, there can be no doubt. Captain Williamson, for example, relates that two tiger-cubs were brought to him when he was stationed in an Indian district. The country-people had found four in the absence of the tigress. The two brought to the captain were put in a stable, where they made a loud noise for several nights. The bereaved mother arrived at last, replying to their cries with fearful howlings, and the cubs were let loose under the apprehension that the infuriated tigress might break in. In the morning it was found that she had carried them away.

For an account of the hybrids between the Lion and Tiger, see the article LION, vol. xiv., p. 35.

Various devices have been put in requisition to take or annihilate this destructive quadruped, and we shall mention one or two of them before we advert to the chace of the animal upon a grander scale. Ten rupees were formerly offered by the East India Company for every tiger destroyed within the provinces where their power and influence extended: a small reward, but sufficient, conjointly with the depredations of the animal, to stimulate the poorer classes to destroy it.

and A kind of spring-bow was formerly laid in its way

discharged a poisoned arrow, generally with fatal effect, when the animal came in contact with a cord stretched across its path, and this method is said still to be in use in some places. Again, a heavy beam was suspended over the way traversed by the tiger, which fell and crushed him on his disengaging a cord which let the beam fall. A Persian device is said to consist of a large spherical strong interwoven bamboo cage, or one made of other suitable materials, with intervals throughout, three or four inches broad. Under this shelter, which is picketed to the ground in the tiger's haunt, a man provided with two or three short strong spears takes post by night, with a dog or a goat as his companion, wraps himself in his quilt and goes to sleep. A tiger arrives, of whose presence the man is warned by the dog or the goat, and generally, after smelling about, rears himself up against the cage, upon which the man stabs him resolutely with his short spear through the interstice of the wicker-work. It seems fudicrous to talk of taking a tiger with birdlime; but it is said to be so captured in Oude. When a tiger's track is ascertained, the peasants, we are told, collect a quantity of leaves resembling those of the sycamore, and common in most Indian underwoods; these they smear with a kind of birdlime which is made from the berries of an indigenous and by no means scarce tree, and strew them with the adhesive substance uppermost in some gloomy spot to which the tiger resorts in the heat of the day. If he treads on one of the limed leaves, he generally begins by trying to shake it from his paw, and not succeeding, proceeds to rub it against his jaw in order to get rid of it. Thus his eyes and ears become agglutinated, and the uneasy animal rolls, perhaps among many more of the smeared leaves, till he becomes enveloped in this state he has been compared to a man who has been tarred and feathered. The tiger's irritation and uneasiness find vent in dreadful howlings; on which the peasants hasten to the spot, and shoot him without difficulty.

The plan of the box-trap and looking-glass, a device to be found in antient sculpture according to Montfaucon, is said to be practised among the Chinese at the present day. So much for the trapping of the Tiger. The tiger-hunt is perhaps the grandest and most exciting of wild-sports. Upon such occasions the whole neighbourhood is on the move, and two hundred elephants have been known to take the field; from ten to thirty of these gigantic animals, each carrying sportsmen armed with rifles, have not unfrequently started for the jungle.

Captain Mundy gives a short but spirited description of a tiger-hunt. The party, he tells us, found immense quantities of game, wild-hogs, hog-deer, and the Neilghie; they, however, strictly abstained from firing, reserving their whole battery for the nobler game of which they were in pursuit. They had to pass through a thick forest, and the author gives a very interesting description of the power and dexterity of the elephants in overthrowing trees to make a road: On clearing the wood,' says he, we entered an open space of marshy grass, not three feet high; a large herd of cattle were feeding there, and the herdsman was sitting singing under a bush, when, just as the former began to move before us, up sprang the very tiger to whom our visit was intended, and cantered off across a bare plain dotted with small patches of bushjungle. He took to the open country in a style which would have more become a fox than a tiger, who is expected by his pursuers to fight and not to run, and as he was flushed on the flank of the line, only one bullet was fired at him ere he cleared the thick grass. He was unhurt; and we pursued him at full speed. Twice he threw ts out by stopping short in small strips of jungle, and then heading back after we had passed; and he had given us a very fast trot of about two miles, when Colonel Arnold, who led the field, at last reached him by a capital shot, his elephant being in full career. As soon as he felt himself wounded, the tiger crept into a close thicket of trees and bushes, and crouched. The two leading sportsmen overran the spot where he lay, and as I came up I saw him, through an aperture, rising to attempt a charge. My mahout had just before, in the heat of the chase, dropped bis ankors, or goad, which I had refused to allow him to recover, and the elephant being notoriously savage, and further irritated by the goading he had undergone, became consequently unmanageable; he appeared to see the tiger • Nyl-Glau. [ANTELOPE, vol. ik, p. 76.]

as soon as myself, and I had only time to fire one shot, when he suddenly rushed with the greatest fury into the thicket, and falling upon his knees, nailed the tiger with his tusks to the ground. Such was the violence of the shock, that my servant, who sat behind, was thrown out, and one of my guns went overboard. The struggles of my elephant to crush his still resisting foe, who had fixed one paw on his eye, were so energetic, that I was obliged to hold on with all my strength, to keep myself in the houdah. The second barrel too of the gun, which I still retained in my hand, went off in the scuffle, the ball passing close to the mahout's ear, whose situation, poor fellow, was anything but enviable. As soon as my elephant was prevailed upon to leave the killing part of the business to the sportsmen, they gave the roughly used tiger the coup-de-grace. It was a very fine female, with the most beautiful skin I ever saw.'

In the Asiatic Annual Register,' for 1804, a gentleman who had been present at the killing of above thirty tigers gives an account of a hunting-party cf the Nawab Asufud-Dowlah. After describing the immense cavalcade of the Nawab, he says:- The first tiger we saw and killed was in the mountains; we went to attack him about noon; he was in a narrow valley, which the Nawab surrounded with above two hundred elephants; we heard him growl horribly in a thick bush in the middle of the valley. Being accustomed to the sport and very eager, I pushed in my elephant; the fierce beast charged me immediately; the elephant, a timid animal, turned tail, and deprived me of the opportunity to fire. I ventured again, attended by two or three other elephants; the tiger made a spring, and nearly reached the back of one of the elephants on which were three or four men; the elephant shook himself so forcibly as to throw these men off his back, and they tumbled | into the bush; I gave them up for lost, but was agreeably surprised to see them creep out unhurt. His Excellency was all this time on a rising ground near the thicket, looking on calmly, and beckoning to me to drive the tiger towards him. I made another attempt, and with more success; he darted out towards me on my approach, roaring furiously and lashing his sides with his tail. I luckily got a shot and hit him; he retreated into the bush, and ten or twelve elephants just then pushed into the thicket, alarmed the tiger, and obliged him to run towards the Nawab, who instantly gave him a warm reception, and with the assistance of some of his omras, or lords, laid the tiger sprawling on his side. A loud shout of wha! wha! proclaimed the victory.'

There is in Bishop Heber's Journal' a most graphic description of a tiger-hunt, but our limits will not permit us to indulge in more of these stirring accounts.

Those who have represented the tiger as untameable have no ground for the assertion. It is as capable of being tamed, and of attachment, even to fondness, for its keeper, as any other animal of its kind. We have seen many instances of this mutual good understanding between the man and the beast, and Mr. Bennett mentions a remarkable example in his Tower Menagerie.' A tigress of great beauty, in the Tower when he wrote, and scarcely a year old, had been, during her passage from Calcutta, allowed to range about the vessel unrestricted, and had become perfectly familiar with the sailors, showing not the slightest symptoms of ferocity. On her arrival in the Thames, the irritation produced by the sight of strangers instantly changed her temper, rendering her irascible and dangerous. So sulky and savage was she, that Mr. Cops, who then kept the lions in the Tower, could hardly be prevailed on by her former keeper, who came to see her, to allow him to enter her den; but as soon as the tigress recognised her old íriend, she fawned on him, licked him, caressed him, and manifested the most extravagant signs of pleasure; and when, at last, he left her, she cried and whined for the remainder of the day. The tame tigers of the mendicant priests, or Fakirs, of Hindustan, are well known.

But whilst there can be no doubt of the tameable qualities of the tiger, and indeed of all the great cats, they are not to be incautiously trusted. The natural disposition is always ready to break out; and the mildest of them, though

- Ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up, Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.'

Thus Bontius states that, in 1628, a tiger at Batavia, which had been brought up from a cub, and accustomed

to men all its life, escaped from its cage, fastened on a horse which was feeding near, and killed it; so that the citizens rose upon the tiger with fire-arms and slew it in its turn, to prevent further mischief.

We conclude this part of our sketch with the account given by John Mason, who formerly kept the beasts in Exeter Change, to Mr. Wood, of his fearful encounter with one of these captives.

About the year 1802 a tiger had been purchased by Mr. Alpey to send to the emperor of Germany, and placed in the Tower, there to remain for a few days, till the ship destined to convey the animal abroad was ready. The beast was confined in a large, sufficiently ventilated, wooden case, lined with iron hoops, some of which he ripped off during the first night of his confinement, and gnawed the case partly through. This being perceived, the next day the case was repaired by the addition only of a strong piece of wood nailed on the outside. The consequence,' says Mr. Wood, might well be expected. The tiger renewed his efforts, and in the course of the following night made his escape, and sprung upon a wall ten feet high, where he remained till Mason came in the morning. The fear of losing such a valuable animal induced this poor fellow, for a reward of ten guineas, to hazard his life in an attempt to secure the tiger. For this purpose he engaged a sergeant and some other persons to assist him, whom he placed in a room, the door of which opened upon the leads, from whence he could reach the animal. He then provided himself with a strong rope, one end of which he gave through the window to his companions, and with the other, having a running noose upon it, he slowly approached the tiger, and threw it over its neck. This was the critical moment: the people within were directed to pull the rope and secure the beast: unfortunately the noose slipped off, and the enraged animal immediately sprung upon the keeper, fixing his teeth into the fleshy part of his arm, and tearing his breast and hand in a dreadful manner with his claws. In this shocking situation the poor man lay under the tiger; while the sergeant cut a bullet into four parts, and, having loaded his musket, he fired through the window at the animal; who, the moment he received the shot, quitted his hold; and, after staggering for a few minutes, expired. The bullet however which destroyed the tiger had nearly been equally fatal to the man, one of the quarters having glanced against his temple, and deprived him of all sense and motion for a considerable time. Nevertheless, after keeping his bed a fortnight, he gradually recovered, and is now (1807) perfectly well, though he will carry the marks of his enemy about with him as long as he lives.' (Zoography, vol. i.)

6

Royal Tiger.

In the East the tiger is associated emblematically with power. Thus the Chinese mandarins covered their seats of justice with its skin. In pl. 17 of the atlas to Sir George Staunton's Embassy to China,' representing a military post, two swordsmen are habited and shielded so as to exhibit a tigerine aspect. The tiger soldiers of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib were among the choicest of their troops. The tiger's head, gorgeous with jewels, that formed the principal ornament of the throne of Hyder and Tippoo, and was taken by the British among the spoils of the latter at Seringapatam, is well known; as is the automatic representation, clumsy enough it must be admitted, of a

the cave at Kirkdale, at Plymouth, and in the breccia of Professor Buckland notices the remains of the Tiger in Antibes. The great fossil Tiger or Lion (Felis spelaa, Goldfuss), and other extinct cats, lived before man was in existence. The following fossil cats are enumerated by Von Meyer, besides the great species above-mentioned: Felis antiqua, Cuv.; F. Issiodorensis, Croiz. and Job.; Job.; F. Arvernensis, Croiz. and Job.; F. Megantereon, F. brevirostris, Croiz. and Job.; F. Pardinensis, Croiz. and Brav.; F. cultridens, Brav.; F. aphanistes, Kaup; F. Ogygia, Kaup; and F. prisca, Kaup. [FELIDE, Vol. X., P. 224.]

Dr. Lund, in his View of the Fauna of Brazil previous to the last Geological Revolution,' remarks that the Hunting Leopard (Felis jubata, Linn.; Cynailurus, Wagl.), characters, has been very properly formed into a separate which differs from the rest of the Cats in many essential genus; for its claws are not retractile, it is gregarious, and of so mild a disposition that it is frequently tamed and employed in the chace. But, he observes, as a remarkable contrast to this, that its dental system is upon a more murderous plan than that of the true Feles, not having the flat which is found in all the other predaceous genera, and the projection on the large tearing molar of the upper jaw, development of which is in inverse proportion to the animal's carnivorous propensities. Dr. Lund recognised this form of dentition in a small animal of the extinct Fauna of the Brazilian region, which was the scene of his valuable labours, not exceeding a domestic cat in size; and he has the remains of two species of the normal feline form, one named it Cynailurus minutus. Besides this he discovered Max.), the other larger than the Jaguar (Felis Onça, as large as the long-tailed tiger-cat (Felis macroura, Pr. Linn.), and comparable to the Tiger and the Lion, the largest species of the Old World.

TIGER-CATS.

Species.

1. Felis Leo, including the three varieties of Barbary, Senegal, and Persia. [LION.]

2. Felis Tigris, the Royal Tiger (here treated of). 3. Felis jubata, the Hunting Leopard. [LEOPARDS, vol. xiii., p. 433.]

4. Felis Pardus, the Panther. [LEOPARDS.] Of this M. Temminck gives the following character:-When adult, less than the Leopard: tail as long as the body and the head, its extremity when turned back reaching to the tip of the nose colour of the fur deep yellowish fulvous, its internal part marked with rose-like spots of the same hue as the ground-colour of the fur; the numerous spots closely approximated; the rose-like spots from 12 to 14 lines at the utmost in diameter: caudal vertebræ 28. N.B. The number of caudal vertebræ assigned to the Leopard by M. Temminck is 22. It would appear there is no correct figure of the true Panther. The Black Tiger, Felis meias, Rimau Kumbang of Sir Stamford Raffles, is considered as only a dark variety of the Leopard.

that

Felis Uncia is considered as also to be erased from the list of species, as it is only the young of the Leopard or Panther.

6. Felis macrocclis, the Rimau-Dahan. [LEOPARDS, vol. xiii., p. 432.]

8. Felis cervaria. For the characters of this and the seven species of Lynx which follow it in M. Temminck's monograph, see LYNX, vol. xiv., p. 217.

16. Felis Catus. [FELIDE, vol. x., p. 221.] 17. Felis maniculata. [FELIDE, p. 222.] 18. Felis minuta, identical with the Felis Javanensis of Horsfield's 'Zoological Researches in Java,' and therefore not to be adopted. Section 2.

This comprises the Felidae of the New Western World. 19. Felis concolor, the Puma. [LION.]

20. Felis Onça, the Jaguar. [LEOPARDS, vol. xiii., p. 434.]

21. Felis Jaguarondi.

22. Felis celidogaster. Bought by M. Temminck at the sale of Mr. Bullock's collection, for the museum of the Netherlands.

23. Felis rufa, Guldenst. Bay-Cat of Pennant: with this M. Temminck describes also a specimen brought from Mexico, which may prove distinct. Bought by M. Temminck at Mr. Bullock's sale for the museum of the Netherlands.

24. Felis pardalis, the Ocelot.

25. Felis macroura.-N.B. These two last confounded together by Linnæus under the name of F. pardalis. The Mexican Tiger of Pennant is said to appear to be a representation of F. macroura.

26. Felis mitis, the Chati, F. Cuv. 27. Felis tigrina.

This monograph, as far as it goes, has been of great benefit; but the student should examine the menageries and museums, as well as the works of other authors, and he will find several cats noticed both before and since the publication of M. Temminck's catalogue. Among other authorities the publications of d'Azara, of Sir Stamford Raffles, of M. F. Cuvier, of M. Desmarest, of Mr. J. E. Gray, of Dr. Horsfield, and Mr. Vigors in the Zoological Journal, of Dr. Horsfield in the Zoological Researches in Jara, of Prince Maximilian, of M. Lesson, of Sir William Jardine (Naturalist's Library, Mammalia, vol. ii., Felince), and of Mr. Darwin (Zoology of the Beagle), may be consulted with advantage.

Dr. Horsfield and Mr. Vigors (Zool. Jour., vol. iv., p. 380) remark that they are not of M. Temminck's opinion, that the determination of species in such groups as these rests upon any examination, however acute, of preserved specimens in cabinets, or in any research, however extensive, into the stores of furriers. Such examination, they think, leads to conjecture; probable and plausible conjecture, it may be true, but still conjecture, and not facts. They add that we are in this way as likely to fall into the error of confounding true species as into that of creating nominal ones, and they express their opinion that the truth can be satisfactorily attained only by diligent researches in the native country of these animals, or by accurate observations on their changes and differences as to sex, age, and season, when in a living state and in confinement.

M. Temminck, in his Tableau Méthodique (1827), states that then there were known thirty distinct species of cats and seven or eight other doubtful indications.

ASIATIC TIGER-CATS.

Example, Felis Nepalensis, Horsf. and Vig.

Description.-Size of Felis Javanensis, Horsf., but its habit more slender, the tail and neck proportionally elongate. Ground-colour grey, with a very slight admixture of tawny; bands and spots of the head, back, neck, throat, abdomen, and thighs, deep black; superior longitudinal bands resembling those of F. Javanensis. Ground-colour of throat and abdomen nearly white; the lower flanks marked with a faint tawny longitudinal streak. Cheeks streaked with two parallel longitudinal lines, at the termination of which follows a transverse lunar mark which passes with a bold curve to the angle of the mouth, near which a very narrow band crosses the throat. Sides of the neck appearing marked with two broad waving bands, at the termination of which stands an oblong regularly transverse band. Neck underneath nearly immaculate. Shoulder and flanks exhibiting irregular, diversified marks, P. C., No. 1543.

the anterior oblong, the posterior angular, of a mixed tawny and black, and, individually, above or posteriorly with a broad dash of saturated black: they are scattered over the sides without any regular longitudinal disposition; but they have generally an oblique direction. Abdomen marked throughout with uniform oval spots; anterior thighs within exhibiting one, the posterior thighs two broad black bands. Rump and thighs marked externally with roundish or oblong spots. Tail above, to within about an inch of the tip, with uniform roundish spots, arranged posteriorly in regular transverse bands. Head above and ears agreeing generally with those of F. Javanensis. Length from extremity of nose to root of tail, 1 foot 10 inches. Length of tail 10 inches. (Vig. and Horsf.)

Dr. Horsfield and Mr. Vigors observe that the distinguishing characters of this species are, its comparatively lengthened habit; the slenderness and proportional length of the tail; the disposition of the marks on the flanks, and the character of these marks as far as regards their diversified form; and the saturated black patch with which they are individually marked at their upper or posterior edge.

6

In the Bengal Cat,' say those zoologists, these marks have a different disposition; they are oblong, and arranged on the flanks in regular succession longitudinally. The materials contained in the museum at the India House have enabled us to make this statement, which is founded on the examination of a specimen brought by General Hardwicke, and on a careful drawing prepared under the eyes of Dr. Hamilton. We have thus two distinct species of small cats from India, and the elucidation of this point is of some importance, as it appears, from the following remark in M. Temminck's monographs, "l'existence de cette espèce dans l'Inde n'est pas constatée," that he entertained some doubts on the existence of the Bengal Cat. It is not our intention, at present, to give a comparative analysis of all the species which resemble our animal. The discrimination of many species of Felis is at all times a difficult subject; and on many of them naturalists still disagree. Our immediate object is to indicate a new form of Felis, from the upper provinces of India, differing essentially from that which is found in the plains of Bengal ; and so direct the attention of naturalists in that country to a more careful investigation of the various Oriental species of this interesting genus.'

The same authors state that the specimen in the collection of the Zoological Society of London was presented by Captain Farrer, of the East India Company's service. It came immediately from Calcutta, where it was said to have been sent from Nepal. It lived some time in the Society's gardens, but was extremely wild and savage. It generally remained in a sitting posture, like that of the common Domestic Cat, and never paced its den in the manner of most other animals of the group. (Zool. Journ., vol. iv.):

Felis Nepalensis. AFRICAN TIGER-CATS. Example, Felis Serval, the Serval.

Description.-Upper parts clear yellowish, with black spots; lower parts white, with black spots also, but they are less numerous. Upon the head and neck the markings are most conspicuous, and form symmetrical lines on each side directed towards the shoulders. On the other parts of the body they are placed irregularly. On the back they are lengthened, and show a disposition to form four rows; on the body and thighs they are larger and round, and they are smaller but equally round on the extremities. Upon the face and muzzle they are minute. VOL. XXIV.-3 L

Back of the ears black at the base, succeeded by a transverse white bar; tips of the ground-colour of the body. On the inside of the fore limbs two conspicuous black transverse bars; the hind limbs with similar markings, but less defined; last joints of the limbs of a paler tint than the rest of the body, the spots on them round and very small. Tail with eight black rings, tip of the same colour. Length, exclusive of tail, 1 foot 11 inches; tail 9 inches. Height when standing erect, about 12 inches at the shoulder, and 15 inches at the hind quarters. (F. Cuv.) The animal from which the above description was taken was a very young male. Its temper was mild and gentle, and its disposition sportive. It played like a domestic cat, or rather kitten, chasing its tail, and amusing itself with anything that it could roll with its paw.

Locality-The Serval is a native of southern Africa. There are generally some living specimens in our menageries. It has been exhibited in that of the Zoological Society of London, and may be seen there now (1842).

equal to that which he has given as its average measurement. The tail however of the Tower specimen did not exceed six or seven inches; its extremity was overgrown with hair, and there was no cicatrix. Still its equality throughout and its abrupt stumpiness induced the belief that this abbreviation was purely accidental; and he felt by no means inclined to regard that specimen as a new species, to be distinguished by the excessive shortness of that appendage, by the unusually pale colour of its markings, and by some slight peculiarity in the mode of their arrangement, which, he observes, varies in every individual that he had seen.

Locality.-Mexico, Paraguay, and probably Peru.

Habits, &c.-The ocelot remains in the deep forests during the day, sallying forth at night in quest of small quadrupeds and birds, the latter of which it successfully chases in the trees, for it is a very expert climber. If it be, as is generally supposed, the Tlacoozelotl, Tlalocelotl, Catus Pardus Mexicanus of Hernandez, it is said to stretch itself out as if dead on the limb of some tree when it spies monkeys in the neighbourhood. They, urged by curiosity, proceed to examine the supposed defunct, and fall victims to their curiosity.

The Ocelot has been so completely tamed as to be left at liberty, and it is said to be capable of strong attachment to its master. Mr. Bennett states that the specimen in the Tower, a male, was perfectly good-tempered, exceedingly fond of play, and had much of the character and manners of the domestic cat. Its food consisted principally of rabbits and birds; the latter it plucked with great dexterity, and always commenced its meal with the head, of which it seemed particularly fond; but it did not eat with the ravenous avidity which characterizes nearly all the animals of this tribe.

The Serval.

AMERICAN TIGER-CATS.

But it is in America that the tiger-cats are most numerous and beautiful, and there their manners have been best noticed by competent observers: we select three examples of the varieties of form and colouring exhibited by this group in that quarter of the globe.

Felis pardalis, Linn. The Ocelot. This, the most beautiful perhaps of all the tiger-cats, almost defies description. Mr. E. Bennett has however given a very faithful account from two living specimens, one existing when he wrote in the Tower of London, and the other in the garden of the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park.

Description.-Body when full grown nearly three feet in length; tail ratlier more than one; medium height about 18 inches. Ground-colour of fur, grey, mingled with a slight tinge of fawn, elegantly marked with numerous longitudinal bands, the dorsal one continuous and entirely black, the lateral (six or seven on each side) consisting for the most part of a series of elongated spots with black margins, sometimes completely distinct, sometimes running together. The centre of each spot of a deeper fawn than the ground-colour external to them; this deeper tinge is also conspicuous on 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 with a black margin; between these there is a single longitudinal, somewhat interrupted, narrow black line, occupying the centre of the neck above. Ears short and rounded, externally margined with black, surrounding a large central whitish spot. Under parts of the body whitish, spotted with black, and the tail, which is of the same ground-colour with the body, also covered with black spots. (Bennett, Tower Menagerie.)

Mr. Bennett remarks that he has, in the above descrip

tion, stated the length of the tail at more than a foot; and that in all the known ocelots, as well as in all the species (of which there are several) that approach it in form and colouring, the proportionate length of the tail is at least

The Ocelot.

Chibiguazu of

Felis mitis, F. Cuv.; The Chati. D'Azara? Felis Chibiguazu, Desm. Description.-About a third larger than the domestic cat: length, exclusive of tail, rather more than two feet; tail eleven inches, height to middle of back, about one foot two inches. Ground-colour of fur on the upper parts, pale yellowish: on the lower, pure white: at the roots. dull grey, and very thick and close. Body covered with it regular dark patches; those upon the back entirely black and disposed longitudinally in four rows; those upon the sides surrounded with black, with the centres of a clear fawn, arranged in nearly five rows. Spots upon the lower part of the body, where the ground-colour of the fur is white, full, and arranged in two lines composed of six or seven patches on each side. Limbs covered with nearly round spots of smaller dimensions: on the fore-legs, near the body, two transverse bands. On the throat a sort of half collar, and on the under-jaw two crescent-shaped spots. Behind each eye two bands about two inches long. terminating opposite the ear. Forehead bordered by two lines, between which are numerous spots, and, at their origin, a blackish mark from which the whiskers spring. Outside of the ear, black, with a white spot upon the small lobe. Base of the tail spotted with small blotches, broadest on the upper surface. Pupil round. (F. Cuv.) which towards the end run into half-rings, which are

This animal (a female) was extremely gentle; and if those with whom it was familiar passed its cage or did not approach it, it would express its discontent by a short ve it manifested great delight when it was caressed. It lived