LYNX. 
** The Lynx, of which the ancients said 
that it's sight penetrated the most opaque ho- 
dies ; and whose urine becajiie a precious stone, 
called Lapis Lyncurius ; is an aiiiaial equally 
as fabulous as the quahtles which they have: 
a cribed to him. Tliis iraaginary Lynx has no 
other relation to the true Lynx than the name.! 
We must not, tlierefore, in imitation of most 
iiaturahsts, attribute to the former, which is a real 
being, the quahties of- this creature of imagi- 
nation; tiie existeiice of which, even Pliny 
hiiTiSclf seems not to believe : for he speaks of 
ir as an extraordinary animal .; and ranks it 
aiong with the Sphynx, the Pegasus, the 
Uivicorn, and other prodigies or monsters 
broiigh.t forth in .Ethiopia, a country of which 
the ancients had no knowledge. 
Our Lynx, though it's sight cannot pe* 
netrate stone walls, has brilliant eyes, a mild 
,abpe6l, and an agreeable and .sprighily air. 
It's urine is not i:onverted into pr-ecious stones : 
but it covers it with earth, Lilve the Cat ; to 
wliom it has a great -resem.blance, and whose 
E^anners and love of cleanliness are .the same. 
It has notlunsr in common with ihc Vs olf, but 
o 
a kind- 
