NATURAL HISTORY SKETCHES 
AMONGST 
THE CARNIVORA. 
CHAPTER I. 
Classification of the Carnivora—The Lion: Size, Weight, 
Strength, and Character; Attacks on Man; Decrepitucde 
and Starvation in Old Age—The Tiger compared with the 
Lion: Size and Weight; Tiger Hunting, and Strange 
Adventures ; “Destruction of Animal and Human Life by 
Tigers—The Jaguar—The Puma: Encounter with one— 
The Leopard—Cheetah—Lynx—Hyena. 
THE Carnivora, adapted as they may be to a terrestrial or 
aquatic existence, possess, nevertheless, many structural charac- 
teristics which form them into a well-defined order of the 
Mammalian class. They are solely or partly flesh eaters, while 
a few, owing to circumstances, may usually subsist on a vege- 
table diet. The dentition, however, always proclaims them to 
belong to a group with whom living prey is the indicated food, 
though some of them may seldom or never obtain it. Thus, 
many of the herbivorous bears justify their carnivorous struc- 
ture by devouring animals whenever they have an opportunity. 
Our old friends who climb the pole at the Zoological Gardens 
and stand in suppliant attitude, expectant of buns, oranges, and 
B 
