THE IJO\. 



Ill 



tlii'ii slightly constricted, forming a very vtuso angle at the point of constriction, and 

 swelling cut like the bull) of a bristle to its termination. It was laterally flattened throughout its 

 entire length, which did not amount to quite three-eighths of an inch. It was of a horn-colour, but 

 became dark, even to blackness, at the tip. 



To its slight adhesion to the skin, M. Deshayes attributed its usual absence, iu stuli'ed specimens, 

 and the same cause will account for its absence in by far the greater number of living individuals. 

 Mr. Woods remarked that its presence or absence docs not depend on age, as the Paris lions in which 



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 , 





I.KOl'ARTl llrXTIXO IS Al'.YSSIXIA. 



it was found were of considerable size, while that belonging to the Society from which the prickle 

 rer,.rred to was taken, was very small and young. Nor does it depend on sex, for, although wanting 

 in the female cubs of the same litter at the Society's Gardens, it was found in the tail of a lioness at 

 the Jardin du Roi. 



Thinking it probable that these prickles might exist in other species of Fr/!*, Mr. Woods had 

 previously examined the tails of nearly the whole of the stuffed specimens in the Society's Museum, 

 but only detected a single instance. This was an adult Asiatic leopard, in which the nail was evident, 



