PANTHERS, AND OUR OTHER CATS. 411 



puzzled by its varied marking and size, may have called it 

 by sundry names, such as catamount, etc. In truth, even 

 Naturalists have been sadly perplexed with regard to the 

 true place of this genus, and we should not wonder that 

 the common people of all countries should be as well. It 

 is unquestionably the transition species from the more defined 

 genera, felis and canis, and consequently, as a sub-genus, its 

 definitions have become more involved. In the dental arrange- 

 ment, there is only the slight variation from that of the 

 felines of one molar less on each side above ; for the rest, 

 they have shorter bodies in proportion to the length of the 

 legs, and shorter tails. Their resemblance to the genus 

 canis (to which those of lupus and vulpes are sub-genera,) 

 seems to be less defined. They approach the dogs, not by 

 very distinct stages of transition, through both these sub- 

 genera. They live more like the fox, on the ground, and 

 approach its associations more in choice of localities and 

 manner of taking its prey. It resembles the dog in its 

 fleetness, and more particularly in its acute sense of smell, 

 which no doubt gave rise to the legend about its being able 

 to see through a stone wall — the acuteness of one sense 

 being vulgarly substituted for that of another. But the true 

 physical characteristic, which distinguishes this from all the 

 other genera, is the tuft or pencil of hair which appears, 

 when they are in full pelage, on the points of their ears. 

 This is the most prominent character of the genus, which I 

 have left to be considered last, because it varies so much 

 with the shedding time and seasons, that it has been the 

 most fruitful source of confusion in classifying the animal. 

 At one time it is long, and at another scarcely visible — 

 hence careless observers have insisted upon a most com- 

 plicated subdivision of the genus. 



Certainly this difficulty has quite naturally been increased, 

 by the extraordinary variations in markings or color, which 

 are peculiar to the Lynx rufus ; although the Canada lynx 



