ORDER CARNASSIER* 425 



the Hyaenas have them extremely narrow ; the Zibet, Civet, 

 and Genet, have the pupils elongated transversely ; the 

 Ichneumons and Caffrarian Weasel have them like the Cat ; 

 and yet, perhaps, none of these are more particularly noc- 

 turnal than the rest of the carnivora, all of which appear to 

 prefer the twilight or night for their predatory excursions. 

 The cloven-footed animals, the Horse, and the Whale, have 

 transverse elliptical pupils ; and the frugiverous sort, as the 

 Lemurs, Squirrels, and Loris, have them much larger than 

 any other animals, but always circular ; in the genus Del- 

 phinus it assumes the figure of a heart ; in the Todes it is 

 triangular ; and in the Alligators and Sharks it is lozenge- 

 shaped. 



If, then, it be considered, that the Lion has round eye- 

 pupils, though it is generally inactive by day, and hunts prin- 

 cipally after sunset ; that the pupils of the Tiger assume 

 either shape, and that it is equally active day and night ; 

 that the Puma, like the Tiger, is equally disposed for action 

 at all times, though its eye-pupils, unlike those of that ani- 

 mal, are always circular ; that one Lynx has the pupils 

 changeable as to shape, while the other has them only vary- 

 ing in size, and that both their habits accord ; and lastly, 

 that the common Cat, which has the pupils varying greatly 

 in shape, though we know it sees with little light, seems to 

 possess in the day a vision as perfect as those animals which 

 merely increase or decrease the size of the pupil, though 

 it continues always round ; — we seem led to a probable con- 

 clusion, that there is a fallacy in adopting the form of the 

 pupil as a physical characteristic of the disposition and 

 habits of the animal. 



The eyes of Cats and of some other animals are frequently 

 much illuminated with a prismatic sort of light in obscurity. 

 On this subject, says Sir Everard Home, there are two 

 opinions ; one, that the external light only is reflected, and 

 the other, that light is generated in the eye. 



Professor Bohn, at Leipsic, made experiments, which 



