424 



THE CAT. 



[CHAP. xn. 



(45.) THE NORTHERN LYNX (Felis lyncus).* 



11. The lynxes are animals which, present a markedly different 

 aspect from that of other cats. Their legs are long and their tail 

 is, with one exception (that of the caracal), very short. Their ears 

 also are tufted at the tip. The pupil is linear when contracted. 

 The orbits are incompletely surrounded by bone. They have no 

 tooth representing the common cat's first upper premolar, while 

 that answering to its second upper premolar is largely developed. 

 The intestines are also very short, f 



The lynxes thus form a little group apart, being structurally more 

 separable from the bulk of the cats than are the lion, tiger, jaguar, 

 puma, and leopard, which are separable from the mass of feline 

 animals as the emphatically " large cats." Still the above given 

 characters are variable in the cat group. In some cats, other than 

 lynxes, the tail is short, and some have the ears more or less pen- 

 cilled. Some, as we have seen, have long legs, and in many the 

 first upper premolar is wanting. The lynxes therefore cannot be 

 separated off as a nominally distinct group or " genus/' 



The lynxes are very variable in their colour and markings, and 

 the northern lynx also varies greatly in the abundance of its hair, 

 according to the season the animal having a very different aspect 

 in winter from that which it presents in summer. The northern 

 Ivnxes are generally reckoned as forming two species, one belonging 

 to the old world, F. borealis, and at least one species belonging to 

 the new, F. canadensis. The American forms are also often de- 

 scribed as alone constituting three species namely, F. canademis, 

 F. rufa, and F. metadata. After a careful examination of the rich 

 series of skins at the British Museum, I am, however, not only 

 quite unable to regard the American varieties as anything more 

 than varieties, but I am inclined to the opinion that there can be 

 no real specific distinctness between the northern lynxes of the two 

 hemispheres their skulls as well as their skins being so much 

 alike, t 



A. The variety generally distinguished as F. borealis is of a 

 reddish-grey colour, sometimes more or less spotted, sometimes very 

 distinctly so especially when young. Its winter dress is more grey 

 in colour and is much longer and thicker than its summer coat. 



* DeBlainville, Osteog. Felis, plate 3. 



t According to Professor Owen (Trans. 

 Zool. Soc., vol. i., p. 131), they are only 

 twice the length of the body, being 

 relatively the shortest intestine known 

 to exist in the Felidce. The hyoid is 

 connected with the skull by a continuous 

 chain of bones, as in the common cat. 

 The ciliary folds of the eye are very long, 

 and the retina, which is very thin, does 

 not reach the meridian of the eyeball, 

 Owen, Anat. of Vertebrates, iii., p. 252. 



J On this question Professor Alphonse 

 Milne-Edwards has been so obliging as to 

 send the following statement of his 

 opinion : "The study of the different 

 kinds of lynx is a very difficult study. 

 Whether there are several species in the 

 northern hemisphere, or only races, is a 

 question which I cannot answer. There 

 are certainly distinct forms, but before 

 ranking them as species it would be 

 necessary to determine what variations 

 are due to climate, season, age, sex, &c. " 



