274 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book VIII. 



CHAP. 23. PANTHERS. 



The panther and the tiger are nearly the only animals that 

 are remarkable for a skin distinguished by the variety of its 

 spots ; 21 whereas others have them of a single colour, appro- 

 priate to each species. The lions of Syria alone are black. 

 The spots of the panther are like small eyes, upon a white 

 ground. It is said that all quadrupeds are attracted in a most 

 wonderful manner by their odour, 22 while they are terrified 

 by the fierceness of their aspect ; for which reason the creature 

 conceals its head, and then seizes upon the animals that are 

 attracted to it by the sweetness of the odour. It is said by 

 some, that the panther has, on the shoulder, a spot which bears 

 the form of the moon ; and that, like it, it regularly increases 

 to full, and then diminishes to a crescent. At present, we 

 apply the general names of varia 23 and pard, (which last be- 

 longs to the males), to all the numerous species of this animal, 

 which is very common in Africa and Syria. 24 Some writers 

 distinguish the panther, as being remarkable for its whiteness : 

 but as yet I have not observed any other difference between 

 them. 



CHAP. 24. THE DECEEE OF THE SENATE, AND LAWS RESPECTING 



AFRICAN ANIMALS ; WHO FIRST BROUGHT THEM TO ROME, AND 

 WHO BROUGHT THE GREATEST NUMBER OF THEM. 



There was an ancient decree of the senate, which prohibited 



21 Pliny, in B. xiii. c. 15, speaks of "tables of tiger and panther pat- 

 tern," as articles of ornamental furniture among the Romans, named from 

 the peculiar patterns of the veins in the citrus wood, of which they were 

 formed. B. 



22 This, though mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 8, is 

 probahly incorrect ; and still more the addition made by JElian, Anim. Nat. 

 B. v. c. 40, that this odour is grateful to man. It has, however, induced 

 some to conjecture, that the animal here described might be the civet ; 

 but the description given is inapplicable to that animal ; nor, indeed, does 

 the civet appear to have been known to the ancients. For further infor- 

 mation, see the remarks of Cuvier, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 420, and Lemaire, 

 vol. iii. p. 386. Pliny, in B. xxi. c. 18, says that no animal, except the 

 panther, has any odour. B. 



23 Meaning the " spotted" or " parti-coloured" female. 



24 Xenophon, in his Cynegeticon, says, that the pard is found on Mount 

 Pangaeus, in Macedonia ; the truth of which is denied by Aristotle, who 

 says that it is not to be found in Europe, 



