THE LYNX. 



PLATE XLVI1. THE LYNX. 



This animal is more commonly found in cold than in tem- 

 perate climates ; and is at least, very rare in hot ones, 

 Bory St. Vincent, however, assures us that he shot several 

 in Spain. It is abundant in the northern parts of Europe. 

 Asia and America. The lynx of the Greeks and Romans 

 was not the animal which now bears that name, but the 

 caracal. 



The lynx, of which the ancients have said, that the 

 sight was so sharp as to penetrate opaque bodies, and of 

 which the urine was made to possess the marvellous pro- 

 perty of hardening, into a solid substance, a precious 

 stone called lapis lyncurius. is an animal which never ex- 

 isted, any more than all the properties attributed to it, but in 

 fable. To the present lynx, or to the caracal, this imagi- 

 nary one has no affinity, but in "name. We must not, 

 therefore, as the generality of naturalists have hitherto 

 done, attribute to the former, which is a real being, the 

 properties of this imaginary one, the existence of which 

 Pliny himself does not seem disposed to believe, since he 

 speaks of it only as an extraordinary beast, and classes it 

 with the sphynx, the pegasus, and other prodigies, or 

 monsters, the produce of ^Ethiopia. 



The European lynx possesses not the wonderful quality 

 of seeing through walls ; but it has bright eyes, a mild as- 

 pect, and, upon the whole, an agreeable and lively appear- 

 ance. Such, however, is its native ferocity, that it is said 

 to be incapable of being subdued. 



The most beautiful skins of the lynx are brought from Si- 

 beria, as belonging to the lupus-cervarius ; and from 

 Canada, as belonging to the felis-cervarius ; because being, 

 like all other animals of the New Continent, smaller than 



