138 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



flesh but beating it with his fore-paws, until it fell. 

 The poor cur was in great terror when it saw the 

 Cat-like face above it, and expressed its fright in a 

 dismal howl which was re-echoed by all the Dogs 

 in the street with demonstrations of compassion 

 and excitement. A large crowd assembled around 

 us, and I was obliged to take my Cheetah and re- 

 turn home without having accomplished my object, 

 which was to see what the Cheetah would finally 

 do with the Dog. 

 Encounter Between I must confess, to my shame, that 

 a Cheetah I delight in no other spectacle so 



and a Leopard. much as a fight between animals, 

 and so I arranged one in my yard. I possessed a 

 nearly full-grown Leopard at the time, a demon in 

 Cat's shape : I have already described him. I made 

 his chain longer and let him into the yard. The 

 Cheetah was not tied to anything. He was in an 



staying in Alexandria, had called on me, expecting 

 to see my animals, but had not found me at home. 

 I promised to show them some of the animals 

 in their own houses, and once, when I knew they 

 were all together, I led Jack by a string and called 

 on them. I pacified the frightened servants, and 

 went up-stairs. There I opened the door slightly 

 and asked whether I could come in with my Dog. 

 Permission was granted and Jack entered the room. 

 The ladies greeted him with a shriek and then in 

 their despair jumped on a large, round table in the 

 middle of the room. Before they had collected 

 their senses, Jack had followed their example and 

 also stood on the table, purring very good-naturedly 

 and rubbing himself against their dresses. So their 

 terror was soon dispelled, they started to caress and 

 pet him, and he seemed to be very proud of being 

 treated with such distinction by them. 



THE FOUSSA. OE CBYPTOPEOCTA. This animal, which is confined to the island of Madagascar, forms a distinct group by itself, 



connecting the Cats and the Civets. The picture shows its peculiarities: the long tail, the short ears, long whiskers, and especially the short, 

 stumpy legs tipped with sharp, retractile claws. The animal is said to be very ferocious and bloodthirsty, and it is greatly feared by the 

 Malagassy natives. (Crypto procta ferox.) 



THE FOUSSA, OR CRYPTOPROCTA. 



amiable temper when I brought him into the yard, 

 and purred very expressively ; but as soon as he 

 caught sight of the Leopard he appeared a different 

 animal. His mane stood on end and he even started 

 to spit (something I had never heard him do before), 

 and courageously rushed at his opponent. Then a 

 fight followed accompanied by such a terrible spit- 

 ting and "swearing" that I must say I was frightened. 

 The Leopard was soon vanquished and lay on the 

 ground, but still threatening the Cheetah with his 

 mighty paws. Jack would certainly have come out 

 the victor, if I had not poured two pailfuls of water 

 on the enraged warriors. They stopped immediately 

 and looked rather sheepishly at each other. Then 

 the Leopard, with his antipathy to his occasional 

 baths rearoused, made for the cage, which I imme- 

 diately shut. In a few minutes Jack was licking 

 and cleaning his fur and purring as if nothing had 

 happened. 



How really amiable my Jack was, may be seen 

 in the following anecdote: Several German ladies 



Pollen's and Schlegel's investigations have shown 

 that the animal named Foussa, or Cryptoprocta, 

 which formerly was counted among the Viverridas or 

 Civets, really belongs to the Cats, or at least forms a 

 connecting link between the Cats and the Civets. It 

 possesses the general structure, the expression of 

 the face and the retractile claws of the Cats, while 

 other features, such as the elongated body, the short 

 legs, the short, egg-shaped ears and the long whis- 

 ker-hairs point to the Viverridae. 



The Cryptoprocta ( Cryptoprocta ferox) attains an 

 extreme length of sixty inches, twenty-seven being 

 the length of the tail ; but it is far from tall, as the 

 legs are only six inches long. The fur is close and 

 short, having a shorn aspect on the head and legs. It 

 is reddish yellow, and darker on the upper part, as 

 there each hair is alternately yellow and brown ; the 

 ears are of lighter hue, and the whisker-hairs are 

 partly black and partly white. The pupil of the eye 



