ORDER CARNASSIER. 471 



but inclinations are to be found in certain of its species, 

 both to the Dogs, and the Viverrae ; the Chetah or Maned 

 Hunting Leopard, is the type of the former. In the sys- 

 tem of dentition, and all the organs of sense, it corresponds 

 with the Felinae, but in the non-retractibility of the claws, 

 it differs from the genus in general. 



In this species, we have again, in a remarkable manner, 

 the opportunity of observing the mutual harmony existing 

 between the mental impulses and the physical powers of 

 animals ; their disposition or inclination to destruction is 

 precisely in unison and proportion with their bodily powers. 

 If very weak, they are excessively timid ; if extremely strong, 

 they are equally undaunted ; while those which hold a me- 

 dium station, in this respect, seem generally to appreciate, 

 as it were, with more sobriety, the conditions of their exist- 

 ence, and to submit themselves to the dominion and artifi- 

 cial education of Man more easily than the rest. The 

 Hunting Leopard is in this intermediate situation. About 

 as big as a large Dog, its leading weapons of offence, the 

 claws, are in the same situation as those of that animal ; 

 incapable of being withdrawn into a sheath for protection, 

 they are constantly exposed to the friction of the ground, 

 by which they become worn and blunt, and so much the 

 less effectual for active warfare ; but otherwise the animal 

 has all the suppleness and elasticity, the trenchant teeth, and 

 the powerful jaws of the Cats. Partially deficient, there- 

 fore, in the physical powers of its congeners, it is equally 

 wanting in the extreme ferocity of its disposition. 



The Hunting Leopard is of a pale yellow colour on the 

 upper part, white underneath, and covered all over with 

 very small spots without regularity ; it has a slight erect 

 mane down the neck, whence it is named. The eye-pupil 

 is round at all times. The slim make of the body and 

 limbs of this animal, calculated apparently rather for speed 

 than strength, assimilate it in a remarkable degree to the 



