ANIMALS 



S19 



in the fifteenth book of his Metamorphoses, mentions 

 it thus: 



Nec catulus partu, quern reddidit ursa recenti 



Sed male viva caro est. Lambendo, mater in artus 



ringit ; et in formam, quantam capit ipsa, reducit^ 



The gravid bear brings forth, devoid of help, 

 An ill shap'd living lump, and not a whelp : 

 From this the dam, by licking, forms her young. 

 And shapes its plastic members with her tongue.* 



The cougar^ of BufFon, or Jilis concoler^ is also 

 ealled panther in some of the states ; but this name 

 is improper, as the North American animal is of a 

 sallow or yellowish colour, and the proper paijther 

 is spotted, and not found in North America. 



A cougar killed in South Carolina measured eight 

 feet six inches in length. 



Dr. Morse speaks of a grey cougar which was 

 lately shown in Massachusetts, which was strong 

 fierce and untamable. He played with a cat, as Or. 

 cat does with a mouse, and afterwards killed anct 

 ate it. 



The foxes of the United States are numerous and 

 of different colours. 



The wolverene^ is called in Canada the carcajou^ 

 and by hunters the beaver eater. His length is two 

 and a half feet and upwards ; his circumference is 

 nearly two feet ; his head and ears resembles wood- 

 chucks ; his legs short ; feet and paws large and 

 strong ; tail about seven inches long, black and very 



* Med. Repog. H«c. 2d. v©l, p. 419. 



