FLESH-EATING ANIMALS. 43 



attaining to a length of five and a half inches including the 

 tail. The water shrew colonises on the banks of rivers. 

 ORDER IV ^e or( ^ er f flesh-eating animals (catnivora) 

 Flesh-eating includes a large number of species among which 

 Animals. are the lion, the tiger and the leopard, as 

 \\ell as the cat and the dog. The two sub-orders into 

 which this order is divided are : I, The Fissipedia, and II, The 

 Pinnipedia. The Fissipedia are again divided into ten fami- 

 lies; lions, cats, dogs, hyenas, weasels, and bears being the 

 most important members. The Pinnipedia includes the seal, 

 the sea lion, the walrus and their allies. 



Animals of the cat kind are distinguished 



SUB-ORDER I. . 



The Fissipedia. bv their shar P and formida ble claws, which 

 Animals of the they can hide or extend at pleasure. They 

 Cat Kind. are remarkable for their rapacity, subsisting 

 entirely on the flesh and blood of other animals. The dog, 

 wolf, and bear, are sometimes known to live on vegetables, 

 or farinaceous food ; but the lion, the tiger, the leopard, and 

 other animals of this class, devour nothing but flesh, and 

 would starve upon any other provision. They lead a solitary, 

 ravenous life, uniting neither for mutual defence, like vegetable 

 feeders, nor for mutual support, like those of the dog kind. 

 The first of the class is the lion, distinguished from all the 

 rest by his strength, his magnitude, and his mane. The 

 second is the tiger, rather longer than the lion, but not so 

 tall, and known by the streaks and vivid beauty of its skin ; 

 here we may also mention the puma, which is sometimes 

 called a panther, or colloquially a "painter", otherwise a 

 couguar, or American lion, which is of a tawny colour. The 

 next is the leopard, sometimes called a panther, and the next 

 the jaguar, followed by the ounce, not so large as any of the 

 former, spotted like them, but distinguished by the cream- 

 coloured ground of its hair, and a tail so long as to exceed 

 the length of its body. The next is the catamountain, or 

 tiger-cat, less than the ounce, but differing particularly in 



