206 



THE OCELOT. 

 Felis pardalis LINN^US. 

 PLATES XVI. and XVII. 



Felis pardalis, Linnceus. Felis ocelot, TemmincJc, Mono- 

 graphics, p. 144. Desmarest, Mammalogie, p. 222 

 Mexican Tiger, Pennant, History of Quadrupeds, i. 

 p. 267 Ocelot, Hamilton Smith, in Griffith's Cuvier, ii. 

 p. 475 Wilson's Illustrations of Zoology, pi. xvii. 



THIS is a very beautiful and graceful little species, 

 at the same time it is easily tamed, and becomes very 

 playful, good-tempered, and familiar. Like the ja- 

 guar of the same country, it is subject to consider- 

 able variety in the form and distribution of the mark- 

 ings ; but the colouring is always chaste and beauti- 

 ful, and the rich reddish or tawny of the ground tint, 

 blends finely with the deep brown, or almost black, 

 on the borders of the spots. 



The best representations of the ocelot that we are 

 aware of, are those drawn by Major Hamilton Smith, 

 for Griffith's edition of Cuvier ; they are full of 

 character, and represent four variations in the mark 

 ings of the animal, while another plate represents a 

 fifth, which the Major considers a distinct species. 

 The ocelots, that gentleman thinks, form a subordi- 



