192 THfc 



who have opportunities of seeing numbers of the skins 

 of the Large Spotted Cats. 



The Ounce is first noticed by Buffon, who de- 

 scribes it as an animal of considerable size, of a grey- 

 ish-white, yellowish on the upper parts, and with 

 the hair much more lengthened than in any of the 

 other spotted cats. 



Both Temminck and Cuvier leave out the Ounce 

 in their descriptions of the Felinse, and we should have 

 been content to have merely mentioned it, as describ- 

 ed by Buffon, had not the plate in Griffith's Animal 

 Kingdom, and the notes in the same work by Major 

 Smith, given us some grounds for thinking that it 

 will one day constitute a very interesting species. 

 The figure in Griffith is taken from a specimen which 

 was in the Tower of London, brought from the Gulf 

 of Persia. It corresponds in a remarkable degree 

 with Buffon's representation ; and Major Smith is 

 said to have once met with a skin also from the Gulf 

 of Persia, and from the length of the fur, which was 

 shaggy, he conjectured it to be from the higher 

 mountain ranges of that country. * 



The Baron Cuvier, in his observations on Buffon's 

 plate, does not mention, and seems to overlook, the 

 long and shaggy hair, which we would consider as 

 one of the most marked characters of the species, 

 and one by which a person comparatively unac- 

 quainted with the subject; would distinguish it from 

 the leopard or panther. Our plate is a copy from 

 * Griffith's Animal Kingdom, ii. 469. 



