4/4 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSCATIONS. [aNNO I76O. 



LIX. Of the Animal* sent from the East Indies, by General Clive, to His 

 Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland^ which is now in the Tower of Lon- 

 don. By James Parsons, M.D., F.R.S. p. 648. 



This animal is something taller than the largest sized cat, being about 15 inches 

 high at tlie shoulders ; slender and light, though strong. The head is small in 

 proportion to the rest, and the neck slender. It has nothing fierce in its aspect, 

 but is mild, and very tame. It is exactly of a fawn-colour, having its ears black 

 on their outsides, and lined with white hairs, and some white round the root of 

 each ear ; it is also white under the throat and belly, and a little so on the backs 

 of its limbs. Its eyes are small, and its head like that of a cat, but somewhat 

 slenderer ; its legs are genteel and straight, with the paws of a cat, having the 

 power of dilating and contracting its toes, which are armed with strong crooked 

 nails, in the same manner as a cat or tyger does ; and its actions are like those 

 of a cat. Dr. P. sat and watched its motions, and saw it lick its foot, and rub 

 it over its face several times exactly like a cat ; and was told by the man who 

 showed it, that when offended, it hisses. Dr. P. examined its teeth, and found 

 them in the same number and manner with those of a cat. As to its food, they 

 give it raw mutton every day ; and when sick, which it often is, they give it a 

 live fowl, or rabbit, which it seizes eagerly, and lies upon it without motion, for 

 a considerable time, to suck the blood, and this proves a certain cure. The tail 

 is like that of a cat also. 



None of the natural historians have yet any account of this animal, except 

 the learned Dr. Walter Charleton, who has a bad figure of it, where the head 

 is, contrary to truth, very large and strong in appearance, the tail like that of a 

 fox, and the whole as strong as a mastiff dog : the name given it in the plate is 

 the same with this, but differently spelled, thus, Siyah-ghush. 



LX. Of the Frog-fish of Surinam. By Mr. George Edwards, F.R.S. 



p. 653. 



In the appendix to Merian's Nat. History of the Insects of Surinam, where 

 she treats of the transformation of fishes into frogs, and of frogs into fishes, 

 after explaining how the European frog is changed from a minute fish, or tad- 



• This animal is the Felts Caracal of the Gmelinian edition of the Systema Naturae of Linneus, 

 and belongs to that division in the genus which contains such species as have the ears terminated by 

 pencil of hairs. It is a native of the eastern regions, and particularly, (as it is said) of Persia. Its 

 general size is that of a fox, and its colour a light reddish bay. The figure given by Dr. Parsons is by 

 no means remarkable for its elegance. In the Count de BufFon's History of Quadrupeds is a much 

 superior representation. The caracal is an animal of great strength and fierceness, and is said to be 

 occasionally tamed by the Persians, and used for tt^chace of various game. 



