THE CAT KIND. 



303 



die. The leopard of Senegal has a much 

 more beautiful coat, the yellow is more bril- 

 liant, and the spots are smaller, and not dis- 

 posed in rings but in clusters. As to the rest, 

 they are both whitish under the belly; the 

 tail in both is pretty long, but rather longer 

 in proportion in the latter, than in the former. 

 To these two animals, whose differences seem 

 to be so very minute, we may add a third ; 

 namely, the JAGUAR, or PANTHER of America. 

 This, in every respect, resembles the two for- 

 mer, except in the disposition of its spots, and 

 that its neck and head are rather streaked 

 than spotted. The jaguar is also said to be 

 lower upon its legs, and less than the leopard 

 of Senegal. These three quadrupeds, as we 

 see, have but very slight differences, and the 

 principal distinction used by Mr. Buffbn, is 

 taken from the size ; the first, as he says, is 

 usually six feet long ; the second, four feet; 

 and the last, about three: however, it appears 

 from the particular subjects of his descrip- 

 tion, that the panther in his possession was 

 not above three feet seven inches long; that 

 the leopard's skin which he describes, was 

 about four; and that the jaguar, at two years 

 old, was between two and three feet long, 

 which, when come to its full growth, would, 

 no doubt, be four feet long, as well as the two 

 former. From hence, therefore, we may con- 

 clude, that the size in these animals is not suf- 

 ficient to make a distinction among them; and 

 that those who called them all three by the 

 indiscriminate names of the leopard and the 

 panther, if not right, were at least excusable. 

 Of those which are now to be seen in the 

 Tower, the jaguar, or the American panther, 

 is rather the largest of the three ; and is by 

 no means the contemptible animal which Mr. 

 Butfbn describes it to be; the leopard is the 

 least of them, and has, by some travellers, 

 been supposed to bean animal produced be- 

 tween the panther and the ounce, an animal 

 which resembles, but is less than any of the 

 former. These three animals we may, there- 

 fore, rank together, as they agree pretty near- 

 ly in their robe, their size, their dispositions, 

 and their ferocity. 



We come next to an animal confessedly 

 different from any of the former, being much 

 smaller, and its colour more inclining to white. 

 Its name, however, in our language, has caus- 



ed no small confusion. It has been general- 

 ly called by foreigners, the ONZA, or the OUNCE, 

 and this name some of our own writers have 

 thought proper to give it ; but others of them, 

 and these the most celebrated, such as Wil- 

 loughby, have given this name to a different 

 animal, with a short tail, and known to (he 

 ancients and moderns by the name of the lynx. 

 I confess myself at a loss, in this case, whom 

 to follow; the alteration of names should be 

 always made with great caution, and never 

 but in cases of necessity. If we follow Wil- 

 loughby, there will be an animal of the pan- 

 ther kind, very distinguishable from all the 

 rest, left without a name; and if we recede 

 from him, it will serve to produce some con- 

 fusion among all the numerous class of readers 

 and writers who have taken him for their 

 guide: however, as he seems himself to have 

 been an innovator, the name of the lynx having 

 been long adopted into our language before, 

 it was unnecessary to give the animal that 

 bore it another name, and to call that creature 

 an ounce, which our old writers had been ac- 

 customed to know by the Latin appellation ; 

 for this reason, therefore, we may safely ven- 

 ture to take a name that has been long mis- 

 applied, from the lynx, and restore it to the 

 animal in question. We will, therefore, call 

 that animal of the panther kind, which is less 

 than the panther, and with a longer tail, the 

 ounce ; and the lynx may remain in possession 

 of that name by which it was known among 

 all our old English writers, as well as by all 

 antiquity. 



The OUNCE, or the ONZA of Linnaeus, is much 

 less than the panther, being not, at most, a bove 

 three feet and a half long: however, its hair 

 is much longer than that of the panther, and 

 its tail still more so. The panther of tour or 

 five feet long, has a tail but of two feet, or two 

 feet and a half. The ounce, which is but 

 about three feet, has a tail often longer than 

 the rest of its body. The colour of the ounce 

 is also apparently different, being rather more 

 inclining to a cream-colour, which is deeper 

 on the back, and whiter towards the belly. 

 The hair on the back is an inch and a half 

 long ; and that on the belly two inches and a 

 half, which is much longer than that of the 

 panther. Its spots are disposed pretty much 

 in the same manner as the large panther, ex- 



