124 ANIBIALS IN MENAGERIES. 



opinion with this gentleman, that the two animals, at 

 best, are but shght varieties ; and, with this feel- 

 ing, we cannot but adopt the prior name given by 

 major Smith, in preference to the new one of Tem- 

 minck. Major Smith, indeed, expressly states *, that 

 M. Temminck acknowledged having received the first 

 information of the existence of this species from him, 

 although the professor chooses to impose upon it a new 

 name of his own. This is not the only instance, we 

 may observe, of M. Temminck appropriating to him- 

 self the discoveries of others. '' But should the identity 

 of these two animals be established, it is obvious that, 

 though the first detailed description of it is due to Dr. 

 Horsfield and sir Stamford Raffles, the first notice and 

 liberal communication of its figure to zoologists, long 

 before, both here and on the Continent, is attributable to 

 major Smith. It would, therefore, be a slight and an 

 injustice done to him, to cancel the name of nehulom, 

 and with it the memorial of his first knowledge and 

 drawing of the animal." t 



The Once. 



Fclis Uncia, Gmelin. Once, Brtffon, H. Smith. 



The Once or Ounce of BufFon bears such a close re- 

 semblance to some of the varieties of the panther, that 

 M. Cuvier does not consider it in any other light. But 

 major Smith, whose researches seem to have been un- 

 wearied, discovered an animal in the Tower menagerie, 

 which corresponds both with BufFon's figure and with 

 the subsequent accounts of the ounce. It was brought 

 from the Gulf of Persia, and was " very distinct from 

 all other species in make, mark, and in general appear- 

 ance." It is much to be regretted that this able zoologist 

 has not entered into further particulars; but, judging 

 from the figure engraved from his drawing, we should 

 term it a lower and more thick-set animal than the 

 panther ; the spots larger, more irregular, and much 



* Griff. Cnv. iL 433. t See Griff. Cuv. ii. ij*. note. 



