354 
ONCE. 
Felis Uncia. F, cauda elongata, corpore albido, maculis irregula- 
ribus nigris, Lin. Syst, Nat. Gmel. p. 77. 
C. with long tail and whitish body, with irregular black marks. 
L'Once, Buf. p.p. i^i.p^. 13. 
Once. Pennant Q,uadr. I. p* 28^, 
This species is scarce inferior in size to the 
Leopard. Its colour is dull white, with a slight 
yellowish or tawny cast, and the whole is scat- 
tered over with differently sized spots and mark- 
ings of black. About the head these spots are 
sniall^ numerous^ and roundish ; along the back 
they form a kind of abrupt or irregularly inter- 
rupted stripes, while on the sides and limbs they 
are variously shaped, forming in some places an- 
gular and in others somewhat round or oval 
marks, with a central space included, and on the 
legs and tail they are black and scattered. In its 
general form the animal seems much allied to the 
Leopard. It seems not to have been distinctly 
described by any modern author till the time of 
Buffon ; but it is supposed to have been known to 
the ancients^ and to have been the smaller Pan- 
ther of Oppian, and the Panthera of Pliny. It 
should be here observed, that the name Uncia, 
Once, or Ounce, has, by Gesner and some other 
naturalists, been applied to the Leopard; and this 
confusion of names among naturalists has greatly 
tended to obscure the real knowledge of this dif- 
