468 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



Felis Uncia, and even the Lynx, in which case, the animal 

 in question, would not be allowed to appropriate to itself, 

 exclusively, the name of Panther. Conjecture must, for the 

 present, supply the place of certainty ; we have endeavoured 

 to compress together the sum and substance of what has 

 been said upon the subject, but by no means pretend to 

 determine the question, or even to offer an opinion on a 

 mere question of fact, hitherto not satisfactorily ascertained 

 even by Cuvier himself. 



The large Spotted Cats of the Old World, though occa- 

 sionally found in some parts of Asia, are much more com- 

 mon in Africa, and are, to the latter continent, almost as 

 destructive as the Tiger is to the former. They seem, 

 however, to have more respect, dictated by fear, for the 

 human species, and will seldom attack a Man, unless pro- 

 voked, or much pressed by hunger ; but they are cruelly 

 destructive to the inferior animal creation. 



For the purpose of taking them, it is usual for the hunter 

 to construct a hiding-place within musket-shot of a tree, 

 on which is suspended some flesh as a bait for the uncon- 

 scious beast, which receives the ball while in the act of 

 taking it. The hunter, for greater caution, then waits till 

 the following day, when a Dog, properly trained, is sent 

 forward to track the animal to its retreat. If it be still 

 alive, the Dog generally falls a victim, and saves the hunter 

 from exposing himself, until he is satisfied that the beast 

 is no longer capable of mischief. 



The female of the Panther or Leopard is gravid nine 

 weeks, and the young, when born, are blind, and remain 

 so about nine days afterward ; but the American Jaguar, 

 which appears to have been confounded so much with this 

 animal, is produced with the eyes open, and the mother is 

 pregnant nearly four months. 



In Dr. Gmelin's edition of the " Systema Naturae," the 



