MAMMALIA. 



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the appearance of one vast warren of pigmy Rabbit burrows ; yet for days, 

 saving the bounding of a Jerboa here and there before one's horse, not 

 another trace of rodent hfe is to be seen. 



The vast number of these Httle rodents in apparent desert is explained 

 by the nature of their food. This is chiefly supplied by bulbous roots. 

 The greater part of the desert plants are tuberous or bulbous, and after 

 nine months of utter barrenness, the first winter rains soon carpet the 

 waste with a brilliant spangling of bulbous flowers — crocus, iris, squills, 

 asphodels, cyclamens, and others. Their glory is soon over ; but the 

 large succulent roots remain, retaining their moisture through the summer, 

 and affording abundant nutriment to the little burrowers. 



ORDER, FERy^.— CARNIVORA. 



FAMILY, FELID-E. 



68. Felis ko. L. Syst. Nat. i. p. 60. The Lion. Heb. nnx ; N^n'p, 

 Old Lion; T'SS, Yomig Lion; /Ht?', Dark Lion; b'*/, Strong Lion. 

 Arab. ^->-j, Scba . 



The Lion has long been extinct in Palestine, and among the inhabi- 

 tants there is no tradition of its existence. Yet of its former abundance 

 there can be no question. It is mentioned about 130 times in Scripture 

 under five different Hebrew names. Within the historic period it was 

 common in Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece. Not only by Homer, but by 

 Herodotus, Xenophon, and Aristotle, it is spoken of as inhabiting Greece 

 in the times of the respective writers.' It seems to have disappeared 

 altoeether from Palestine about the time of the Crusades, the last mention 

 of it being by writers of the twelfth century, when it still existed near 

 "Samaria. Though stiil found throughout Africa, from the south to the 

 Adas Mountains, it can scarcely be said now to exist in Asia west of the 

 Euphrates, unless in Arabia, the latest trace being that a few years ago 

 the carcase of one was brought into Damascus. It is still common in 

 Mesopotamia, though becoming rare in India. The Arabs state it is 

 found in Arabia. No specimens from thence have reached Europe, but 



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