734 C 



and before mankind learned to form their opinions 

 according to nature, instead of attempting to form 

 nature according to their opinions. 



This is not the place to go into any extensive 

 investigation either of the nature or the usefulness of 

 the system of types, and the subject is yet too much 

 in its infancy for being made very instructive in a 

 popular point of view ; but it is necessary that even 

 those who take the most casual and cursory view of 

 any one living production of nature in its natural state, 

 should know that there are specific principles in nature, 

 well grounded in reason and philosophy, according 

 to which the structures and the functions of animals 

 may be studied as parts of one general and beautiful 

 system, and not as detached individuals, which have 

 nothing to tell but what is apparent to the senses of the 

 most ignorant and most unreflecting observer. The 

 latter is so contrary to what we meet with upon every 

 other subject, that it cannot possibly be true ; for it 

 would be the most glaring inconsistency if there were 

 not in that subject, which is calculated, above all 

 others, to draw the attention of mankind, the same 

 reward to that attention as there is in subjects of a 

 humbler, and in many respects less useful character. 

 Nor can we doubt that very much of the uncertainty, 

 contradiction, and absurdity, which is to be met 

 with in very many of the descriptions of natural 

 objects, is owing to the want of established typical 

 characters which shall form the foundation of a 

 system at once natural, philosophical, and of easy 

 application. 



We feel the want of such a system every where 

 throughout living nature, but no where more forcibly 

 than in the genus Felis, and especially in those species 

 or varieties of it which have led to these remarks. 

 This is therefore the proper place to hint at the 

 general nature of what is wanted ; and we do this 

 the more readily that, being a matter acquireable by 

 common observation, and not by the help of any 

 technical science.it strictly belongs to the popular view 

 of natural history, in the best sense of the term, and 

 may be promoted by every one who will examine 

 those productions of nature which come within the 

 sphere of his own observation. 



It is not easy to say to what number of animals 

 one type should in every instance be extended. The 

 action of the animals the part which they appear 

 perfected to perform in nature is unquestionably 

 the foundation ; and we must regard the whole sys- 

 tem of animated nature as being, as every thing in 

 nature is, sustained by the balance of certain actions 

 and reactions. Thus, for instance, the foundation, or, 

 if you will, the design of the genus Felis, is to keep 

 down the numbers of other animals, of other mam- 

 malia in the cases of the larger species, so that those 

 animals may not multiply to excess, and derange the 

 system. The genus Felis is, in this respect, the ulti- 

 mate genus, as it were, for the more powerful ones 

 are not subduable, so as to have their numbers 

 restrained, by any other race of animals in wild nature, 

 whatever they may be by man. But we are not on 

 this account to suppose that they are set in lawless 

 dominion over the rest of the animated tribes ; for 

 even man, if he is to profit by the cultivation of nature, 

 must profit not by breaking the laws of nature, but 

 by obeying them ; and in like manner we may be 

 sure that though the more powerful species of the 

 feline race are absolved from animal control, they are 

 no more out of the government of nature, that is, of 



A T. 



the Author of nature, than the weakest animal of 

 which the least powerful of them makes prey. 



Thus, we are to consider that the typical law in 

 the animal, that is, in all the varieties or species which 

 observation can fairly bring within the type, tends to 

 the evolution of a certain organic structure ; and that 

 the tendency of the reacting circumstances is to 

 make the individual stop short of its type, sooner or 

 later, according to the strength of those circumstances. 

 Thus we have all the feline race harmless and playful, 

 and without their more formidable weapons their 

 canine teeth and retractile claws when they are in a 

 young state. Farther, when they are in that state, 

 we have them all with markings of colours ; and it is 

 not a little remarkable, that different as the lion and the 

 tiger are when they grow to maturity, the cubs, when 

 very young, might very readily be taken for each 

 other. We find too that the lion in Asia, in which 

 the characteristics of the lion, the muscular appear- 

 ance, and the thick shaggy inane, and also the stature, 

 are not so much developed as they are in Africa, is 

 a much less formidable animal than in the latter 

 country. When we take the two animals which are 

 considered as the leopard and the panther, and con- 

 sider them in similar localities, we find a similar 

 difference of development, although they are still as 

 like each other in general appearance, as the lion in 

 Asia and the lion in Africa ; and thence we are, 

 perhaps, warranted in concluding that the two are 

 nothing but elimatal varieties of otie original species 

 of animal, for whose typical development the climate 

 of Asia is not so favourable as that of Africa. 



We have a corroboration of this in the case of two 

 other animals, the one an Asiatic, and the other an 

 African. These are what are usually called the 

 hunting leopards, of which the Asiatic is a smaller 

 and much more docile animal than the African ; and 

 when we compare these two with the lion as found 

 in the two continents, we discover an analogous 

 change in the lion, and in these hunting leopards. 

 The most striking difference in the appearance of the 

 Asiatic lion is the paucity of his mane, as compared 

 with the formidable bush which surrounds the neck, 

 shoulders, and breast of him of Africa ; and it is 

 worthy of remark, as establishing the analogy, that 

 the hunting leopard of Africa has a mane, though of 

 course a small one in comparison with the mane of 

 the lion, while the hunting leopard of India has none. 

 These remarks are of course not conclusive, because 

 nothing in natural history can be conclusive which 

 does not rest upon observation at every step ; but 

 still they point out the way to a proper conclusion 

 in a part of the subject which is at present involved 

 in the obscurity of ignorance, and consequent uncer- 

 tainty. 



The usual distinctions of these animals have been 

 the general colours of the skin and the markings ; but 

 these are not to be depended on ; for though we 

 describe or figure a specimen ever so accurately, it is 

 not the leopard, or the panther, in the general sense, 

 but merely a leopard, or a panther. The ground 

 colour is generally of some yellowish shade, but that 

 varies much in depth ; in some it is pale straw colour, 

 or even dirty white ; in others it inclines to black ; 

 and there are all the shades intermediate between 

 these : the spots are in general black, well defined, 

 and regularly distributed ; but they vary much in 

 number and intensity, and often run into each other. 

 Thus there can be no distinction made of the animals 



