334 ' NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description, manner*, &tc. 



The natives of Malabar call it the marapute, or 

 maraputa. 



In a work on natural history, published by the 

 French academicians, the serval seems first U> 

 have been noticed by the name of the chat pard\ 

 and was therein described as measuring two feet 

 and a half, from the nose to the insertion of the 

 tail; its shape and make was very thick and 

 strong; its upper parts were of a fox-coloured 

 red, with the throat, breas!, belly, and inside of 

 the legs, of a dun white ; the body was spotted 

 with black, the spots on the sides, belly, and legs, 

 being rounder and more numerous than those on 

 other parts, 



Buffon gives us the following description of 

 this animal, from a passage in an Italian work, 

 translated and sent to him by the Marquis de 

 Montmirail. 



tt The marapute," which the Portuguese in In- 

 dia, call serval, "is a ferocious animal, larger 

 than a wild cat, and somewhat less than the civet, 

 from which he differs, by having a larger and 

 rounder head, and a kind of depression on the 

 middle of the front. 



" He resembles the panther in the colour of 

 his hair, which is yellow on the head, back, and 

 flanks, and white on the breast and belly, and 

 likewise in the spots, which are distinct, equally 

 distributed, and somewhat smaller than those of 

 the panther. His eyes are extremely, brilliant, 



G 



