450 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



acquired the name among the keepers, at the menagerie, 

 of the Tortoiseshell Tiger. 



The head of this animal was small compared with its 

 general bulk. The throat was thick ; the body long, heavy, 

 and cylindrical ; and the legs very thick, short, and mus- 

 cular. The tail also was remarkably thick and long. The 

 extreme irregularity of the markings of this animal render 

 a compressed description difficult. The forehead and the 

 limbs, both outside and within, were covered with nume- 

 rous small, close spots ; on the sides of the face, were a few 

 diagonal stripes ; the sides of the throat also, and the dorsal 

 line were marked with long, irregular, black stripes, with 

 but little parallelism or regularity of angle. The whole sides 

 of the animal were covered also with black stripes, forming 

 a few large irregular enclosures, some nearly round; others 

 approaching a long square or oblong, thus assuming some- 

 thing like the irregular uncertain figures of a passing 

 cloud, or the bright yellow and rich brown of tortoiseshell, 

 when viewed by refracted light. The tail was marked with 

 many annuli, almost from beginning to end ; and the whole 

 appearance of the animal was excessively beautiful. 



The irregular, circular, and oval open patches on the 

 sides of this animal, might approximate it, in some mea- 

 sure, to the group of Ocelots ; but its Asiatic habitat and 

 large size, separate it entirely from these American Cats, 

 and bespeak its relative situation among the Felinse to be 

 after the Striped Tiger, and before the group designated 

 by circular open spots. 



We are unable to give the particulars of his dimensions, 

 but in the bulk of his body, and the size of his head, he 

 was said to be nearly equal to the Bengal Tiger, though his 

 legs were shorter, and appeared still stronger ; his tail was 

 also much thicker, and appeared much browner and duller. 

 He was fierce in disposition, but was less active and lively 

 than the Bengal species ; nor did his eye convey that 



