292 NATURAL HISTORY, 



THE PANTHER. 



THE panther, ounce, and leopard ; the first of these 

 species which exists in the Old Continent is the large 

 panther, which we shall simply call panther, and 

 which the Greeks distinguished by the name of par- 

 dalis, the ancient Latins, first by the name of panlhe- 

 ra, afterwards by that of pfadus, and the modern La- 

 tins by the name of leopardus. The body of this ani- 

 mal, when it has attained its full growth, is five or 

 six feet long from the tip of the nose to the insertion 

 of the tail, which is above two feet long. Its skin is 

 of a yellow hue, more or less dark on the back and 

 sides, and whitish under the belly. It is marked with 

 black spots in the form of beads. Of these rings, the 

 greatest number have one or more spots in the centre, 

 of the same colour with the extremity of the ring. 

 Some of them are oval, and others circular ; and they 

 are frequently above three inches in diameter. 



The second species is the small panther of Oppian, 

 which our modern travellers have called ounce, or on- 

 za, corruptedly from the name lynx, or lunx. To 

 this animal we shall preserve the name of ounce, which 

 as it has in fact some affinity to the lynx, seems to be 



