472 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



canine race, withwhich we have already compared it. In 

 a certain aptness or capability it possesses of being trained 

 for field sports, it is also more like the Dogs than the Cats. 

 It is, therefore, strictly speaking, intermediate, and we ap- 

 pear to pass naturally from the latter race of animals 

 through this species to the former. It also exhibits the 

 first step or remove from the perfect fitness for carnivorous 

 and predatory habits in the loss of the retractile power of 

 the talons. 



M. F. Cuvier says of the individual he describes, that 

 except in regard to that mistrust natural to the Cats, he 

 had all the habits of those animals, playing in the same 

 graceful manner and with the same address ; and although 

 his nails were not trenchant, he exercised his forepaws in 

 play in the same manner as the Cats, striking any small 

 moving body with his paw, and seizing his food in both. 

 Under all these circumstances, he was altogether a Cat, 

 and differed only from his congeners in his much greater 

 degree of confidence, and in all the consequences resulting 

 therefrom. Familiar with every one, he was always ready 

 to make the slight noise we call purring whenever he was 

 caressed by .any person. 



He was brought up with perfect liberty, and was accus- 

 tomed to live even with children and the domestic animals. 

 In his passage from Senegal he was equally as free, and 

 while in France, was kept during summer in a park, where 

 he had the opportunity of amusing and exercising himself. 

 When it was cold, or his inclination induced him to come 

 in doors, he made a uniform frequent mewing, which he 

 also used to express his hunger, or his thirst, or his affection. 



This individual was taken in Africa, and the species is 

 said to be indigenous also in India ; but from the inspec- 

 tion of several individuals, particularly two that were lately 

 in Wombwell's itinerant collection, and from a drawing 

 in particular in our possession, from a sketch made in 



