732 



CAT. 



Well, upon this principle, we would bid any one 

 look at the mouth of any of the Felinee, after they 

 have ceased to suck their mothers, and have got their 

 teeth, and say what sort of sucking apparatus he thinks 

 it would make. Then we would bid him look at the 

 manner in which a cat laps milk, and consider whether 

 she could extract blood from the vessels of an animal. 

 But all the genus lap when they drink; and they lap 

 not with the tongue bent upwards at the tip and 

 edges till it forms a sort of scoop or spoon, as is the case 

 with the dog, they lap with the tongue bent down- 

 ward at the tip, and thus they lap slowly; and the 

 plunging of the head into the body of the animal 

 is not done so -much in order to drink the blood, as to 

 eat the viscera. 



At the same time, we do not mean to deny that all, 

 or that any of the animals of this genus do not lap 

 blood as well as tear and eat flesh ; only their organi- 

 sation is expressly formed for the one operation and 

 not for the other ; and though there is a good deal of 

 range in every organisation, we must either allow the 

 purpose, for which it appears to be especially adapted 

 to predominate, or there is an end of all rational 

 knowledge of animals. We are aware that many of 

 the authorities describe some of the Felinee as sucking 

 the blood of their victims before they tear the flesh ; 

 but there was a time when the authorities generally 

 and some of the ancient authorities still adhere to the 

 belief accused torn cats of ''sucking the breath" of 

 infants while asleep. Animals which suck blood 

 always make a punctured wound, as is done by the 

 weasel tribe, and not a lacerated one, such as is 

 always made by the cats. 



We have extended our observations on these two, 

 the most powerful and famed species of the genus, 

 to some length, both on account of their interest and 

 in order to bring into one description, and thereby 

 shorten the general account of| animals which have so 

 many corresponding characters as the whole race of 

 the cats, great and small, possess ; and having done 

 so, we shall be enabled to dismiss the others very 

 briefly. 



Tigers are not only subject to considerable variety 

 in size and in the markings and tints of the colours, 

 but there are sometimes albinos met with, which have 

 been considered different varieties, and described 



are feebler and less handsome than the animals which 

 have the usual colour. 



Animals of this colour are not, we bclievp, met 

 with anywhere, as a variety, in pairs and producing 

 broods of their own colour; and there is a reddish 

 tinge in the eyes of the few solitary individuals that 

 are met with, which tends to establish the fact that 

 they are not a separate race, but are merely defective 

 in the colouring matter. They have transverse bands, 

 the same as the others, only these bands appear to 

 consist more in the different texture of the hair than 

 in any real difference in the colour. The hair which 

 answers to the yellow ground has the silvery gloss 

 and semitransparent appearance of the hair of albinos 

 of other races; but that which marks the stripes is 

 chalky and without lustre, so that in some lights it 

 appears whiter than the rest of the skin, in others it 

 appears darker, and in others still the whole colour 

 seems to be uniform. 



THE CLOUDED TIGER (Felis macrocelu}. There 

 is little doubt of this one being a distinct species, and 

 according to the best accounts we have of it, it seems 

 to be a tiger-cat rather than a tiger. The following 

 figure will afford some idea both of its form and its 



under the name of WHITE -TIGERS. We give a figure 

 of one, from which it will be seen that these albinos 



markings. It is a native of the eastern Archipelago, 

 and perhaps also of some of the south-eastern parts of 

 continental Asia. The ground colour of its skin is 

 white, pure and bright on the belly, but much duller 

 on the back, where there are stripes of rich velvet 

 black, and the intermediate places have a greyish 

 appearance from the mixture of black hairs and 

 whitish ones. The markings on the sides are ill- 

 defined blotches of a variety of shapes. The body is 

 much more clumsy than that of the tiger, the legs are 

 shorter and apparently thicker, but the apparent thick- 

 ness is in fact owing to the thicker fur with which 

 they are covered. The tail is longer, thicker, and 

 much more furry, having no inconsiderable resem- 

 blance to that of some of the common cats. The 

 eyes are not so large in proportion as those of the 

 tiger ; they are more inclining to grey in the irides ; 

 and though the animal is rather fierce for its size, 

 they have not the same glare as tiger's eyes. 



According to the descriptions, this is a comparatively- 

 small animal, not exceeding in size the largest speci- 

 men of the wild cat found in this country ; and from 

 their diminutive stature, and consequently inferior 

 strength, they never, in their natural economy, attack 

 man, or any other of the larger animals. It is to be 



