78 MAMMALIA. 



nocturnal animals, inhabiting caves; are extremely voracious, and feed 

 chiefly on dead bodies, which they seek for even in the grave. A thousand 

 superstitious traditions are connected with them. Three species are known, 

 one of which is the 



H. vulgaris, Buff. (The Striped Hyena.) Grey; blackish or brown 

 stripes crosswise; a mane along the whole of the nape of the neck, and black, 

 that stands erect when the animal is angry. It is found from India to Abys- 

 sinia and Senegal. The brown and spotted Hyenas are the two others. 



Felis, Lin. 



Of all the Carnaria the Cats are the most completely and powerfully armed. 

 Their short and round muzzle, short jaws, and particularly their retractile 

 nails, which, being raised perpendicularly, and hidden between the toes, 

 when at rest, by the action of elastic ligament, lose neither point nor edge, 

 render them most formidable animals, tlie larger species especially. They 

 have two false molars above, and two below: their superior carnivorous tooth 

 has three lobes, and a blunted heel on the inner side; the inferior, two 

 pointed and trenchant lobes, without any heel: they have but a very small 

 tuberculous tooth above, without any thing to correspond to it below. The 

 species of this genus are very numerous and various with regard to size 

 and colour, though they are all similar with respect to form. We can only 

 subdivide them by referring to the difference of size and the length of the 

 hair, characters of but little importance. 



At the head of the genus we find 



F. leo, L. (The Lion.) Distinguished by its uniform tawn)' colour, the 

 tuft of hair at the end of the tail, and the flowing mane which clothes the 

 head, neck, and shoulders of the male. Of all beasts of prey, this is the 

 strongest and most coui-ageous. Formerly scattered through the three parts 

 of the old world, it seems at present to be confined to Africa and some 

 of the neighbouring parts of Asia. The head of the Lion is more square 

 than that of the following species. 



Tigers are large, short haired species, most commonly marked with vivid 

 spots. 



F. tigris, Buff. (The Royal Tiger.) As large as the Lion, but the body 

 is longer, and the head rounder; of a lively fawn colour above: a pure white 

 below, irregularly crossed with black stripes; the most cruel of all quadru- 

 peds, and the scourge of the East Indies. Such are his strength and the 

 velocity of his movements, that during the march of armies he has been 

 seen to seize a soldier, while on horseback, and bear him to the depths of 

 the forest, without aff'ording a possibility of rescue. 



F. onga, L. (The Jaguar.) Nearly the size of the Royal Tiger, and 

 almost as dangerous; a bright fawn colour above; the flank longitudinally 

 marked with four rows of ocellated spots, that is with rings more or less 

 complete, having a black point in the middle; white beneath, transversely 

 striped with black. Sometimes individual specimens are found black, whose 

 rings, of a deeper hue, are only perceptible in a particular light. 



