430 CLASS MAMMALIA, 



The talons also do not attain their retractile power till the 

 animal is nearly a year and a half old. At about a year old 

 the canine teeth appear, a period very frequently fatal to 

 the young, at least to those born in confinement. 



The characters of the Lion and the Tiger have been of 

 late considered as perfectly similar. This assertion, con- 

 tradicted by the ancients and early moderns, has wholly 

 arisen from some remarks made by travellers to the Cape. 

 No doubt, where similar appetites, similar propensities, 

 similar means, and similar circumstances occur, a great 

 similarity of character must be found. Although indivi- 

 duals are observed to be more undaunted and ferocious, in 

 proportion to the increased distance at which they may be 

 found from the habitations of mankind, more especially the 

 civilized races, yet the Lion, we should submit, when com- 

 pared with the Tiger, is a noble animal ; he possesses more 

 confidence, and more real courage ; he likewise differs in 

 his permanent attachment to his mate, and protection of 

 his young ; while the Tiger shows no partiality beyond the 

 period of heat in the female, and is himself frequently the 

 first and greatest enemy to his own offspring. The former 

 of these traits of character is substantiated by a great variety 

 of authors and testimonies, and denied only by the assertion 

 of the colonists of the Cape, who report that the Lion, when 

 he fancies himself unperceived, will flee from the hunters ; 

 but it must be remembered, that the Lion is generally pur- 

 sued by day, and it is probable that he bears the glare of 

 an African sun, reflected from a sandy soil, with great in- 

 convenience. It is, therefore, as unjust to tax this animal 

 with cowardice, because he wishes to avoid a contest, at a 

 period when his sight is much deteriorated, as it would be 

 to rate the hunter for his timidity, because he will not chase 

 the Lion in the dark. 



Major Smith has met with eleven instances of different 



