26 LLOYD'S N@#MURAL HISTORY. 
prevail in a great part of the East Indian Archipelago, and 
precautions are scarcely ever taken against a wild beast. In 
Sumatra, according to Sir Stamford Raffles, when a Tiger enters 
a village, the foolish people frequently prepare rice and fruits, 
and placing them at the entrance, conceive that, by giving him 
this hospitable reception, he will be pleased with their attention, 
and pass on without doing them harm. 
Bringing the history of our knowledge of these wild animals 
to a still later period, we find them in Britain at the courts 
of our own kings. Henry the First, for instance, had, at his 
manor at Woodstock, a royal menagerie, where he kept Lions 
and Leopards, Lynxes, Porcupines, and other animals. From 
Woodstock these animals were transferred to the Tower, and 
formed the foundation of that establishment. ‘But in all 
these immense collections,” continues Jardine, “ we have only 
seen them as accessories of eastern magnificence, or delighting 
a barbarous people by their still more barbarous contests. It 
is true, certainly, that one of the greatest original works de- 
rived a great part of its accuracy and value from the numbers 
of animals which Alexander remitted during the progress of his 
conquests, and the Natural History of Pliny was partly supplied 
from the Roman shows; but these are the only instances of 
great men making use of the advantages which these collections 
afforded.” And it was not till a much later epoch that regular 
Zoological Gardens were established to promote the study of 
animals in their living state. 
I. THE RETRACTILE-CLAWED CATS. GENUS FELIS, 
felis, \inn., Syst, Nat. ed. 12,-vol.1. p: 60x 17.06). 
Characters.—Claws of toes completely contractile within their 
investing horny sheaths; inner tubercle of the upper carnas- 
sial tooth well developed. 
This genus includes the whole of the existing members of 
