MAMMALS FELIDAE LYNX CANADENSIS. 99 



LYNX CANAUENSIS. 



Canada Lynx. 



Felts canadenrii, (" Geoff. Par. Mus.") DESM. Mam. I, 1820, 224. 



" SABINE, Franklin's Jour. 659." 



HARLAN, F. Am. 1825, 98. 



GODMAN, Am. N. H. I, 302. 



SMITH, in Griff. Cuv. V, 1827, 174. 



RICH. F. B. A. I, 1829, 101. 

 Lynx canadensis, RAF. Am. Month. Mag. II, Nov. 1817, 46. 



ACD. <fe BACH., N. A. Quad. I, 1849, 136; pi. xvi. 

 Felit bortalis, TEMM. Mon. Mam. I, 1827, 109. 



WAGNER, Suppl. Schreber, II, 1841, 519. 

 Lt/ncus boretlis, Dekay, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 50; pi. x, f.2. 



Sp. CH. Size, that of a setter dog. Tail as short or shorter than the head; its terminal fifth above and extreme end black 

 all round. Feet very large, densely furred beneath in winter, so as to conceal the pads. Hind feet about 9 inches long. 

 General color, grayish hoary, with concealed pale rufous, and waved with black, especially on the back. No distinct transverse 

 band inside the legs; very obsolete dark markings on the head; ears with a narrow black margin on the convexity, and black 

 pencil; grayish elsewhere. Whiskers chiefly white. 



This species, the largest of the North American lynxes, is readily distinguished from the 

 others, not only by its size, but by the proportionally longer hair and larger feet, independently 

 of the differences of coloration, &c., which will hereafter be referred to. It is apparently as 

 large as a medium sized setter dog, although the weight is considerably less. The head is 

 broad and the facial outline much arched. The neck is full and thick, with a pointed ruff at 

 each side. The legs are thick, and the paws enormously large. At first sight, the under 

 surface of the paws appears entirely covered with dense hair ; but on carefully separating this, 

 the naked pads are found in the same number as in the other lynxes, but of smaller size, both 

 absolutely and comparatively, (seven on the fore paws and five on the hinder). The pads on 

 the palms and soles are more readily detected than the rest. The tail is very short and densely 

 hairy ; the ears are angular above and tipped with a pencil of very long hairs. As far as 

 can be judged from the rather imperfect specimen, the whiskers are in three horizontal series. 



The prevailing color of this animal is gray, varied somewhat with pale rufous, and with a 

 general wash of black on the back and sides, formed by the dark tips to the hairs. The dorsal 

 region shows little, if any, rufous. Although there is no distinct pattern in the distribution and 

 intensity of the black tips to the hairs, yet there may be traced some obscure indications of 

 blotches and waved lines, which after all, however, may be owing to accidental conditions of 

 arrangement in the hair, which is very long and loose. The soft under hairs are all leaden 

 grayish for the basal half, the terminal portion on the sides of the body passing into pale 

 rufous ; on the dorsal region it becomes more dusky. The gray and black markings described 

 are entirely in the long straight hairs, thickly interspersed in the other sort. The inferior and 

 anterior portions of the body and limbs are dirty white, with obscure blotches of brown, and 

 the distinct black bands of the other American species are either wanting or very faintly repre 

 sented. The exterior surfaces of the limbs are pale rufous, with the hairs gray, the latter color 

 predominating on the fore legs. The soles are dull rusty white. 



There are few markings visible on the head, which is grayish, with black tips to the hairs. 



