6 THE CAT 



forming a single genus, Fells; the characters 

 upon which most of the genera were based, 

 which various systematists have attempted to 

 set off from the main stem, being uncertain, 

 variable, and hard to specify. Some members 

 of the genus vary greatly in size and color, and 

 we have far from complete knowledge of all 

 the different kinds of cats under nature, but 

 those most commonly recognized at the present 

 time may be briefly recounted : 



1. The TIGER (Felis tujris). The title of 

 " king of beasts " has long been conferred upon 

 the lion, but by right should be borne by 

 the royal tiger his superior in beauty, size, 

 and strength. The ingenious observations 

 upon the muscular capacity of animals made 

 by the Rev. Mr. Houghton, at Dublin, showed 

 the strength of the tiger to exceed that of the 

 lion by a full quarter ; and on a few occasions 

 when they have been matched together, the 

 tiger has always proved the victor in modern 

 days as well as in the arenas of Rome. 



Tigers are found all through southern Asia, 

 and away to the north in Siberia and Korea, 

 and in the larger islands of the Indian Archi- 



