274 
pliny's natural htstoet. 
[Book VIII. 
CHAP. 23. PANTHERS. 
The panther and the tiger are nearly the only animals that 
are remarkable for a skin distinguished by the variety of its 
spots whereas others have them of a single colour, appro- 
priate to each species. The lions of Syria alone are black. 
The spots of the panther are like small eyes, upon a white 
ground. It is said that all quadrupeds are attracted in a most 
wonderful manner by their odour, while they are terrified 
by the fierceness of their aspect ; for which reason the creature 
conceals its head, and then seizes upon the animals that are 
attracted to it by the sweetness of the odour. It is said by 
some, that the panther has, on the shoulder, a spot which bears 
the form of the moon ; and that, like it, it regularly increases 
to full, and then diminishes to a crescent. At present, we 
apply the general names of varia^^ and pard, (which last be- 
longs to the males), to all the numerous species of this animal, 
which is very common in Africa and Syria.^^ Some writers 
distinguish the panther, as being remarkable for its whiteness : 
but as yet I have not observed any other difference between 
them. 
CHAP. 24. THE DECREE OF THE SENATE, AND LAWS RESPECTING- 
AFRICAN ANIMALS ; WHO FIRST BROUGHT THEM TO ROME, AND 
WHO BROUGHT THE GREATEST NUMBER OF THEM. 
There was an ancient decree of the senate, which prohibited 
21 Pliny, in B. xiii. c. 15, speaks of " tables of tiger and panther pat- 
tern," as articles of ornamental furniture among the Eomans, named from 
the peculiar patterns of the veins in the citrus wood, of which they were 
formed. — B. 
22 This, though mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 8, is 
probably incorrect ; and still more the addition made by ^lian, Anim. Nat. 
B. V. c. 40, that this odour is grateful to man. It has, however, induced 
some to conjecture, that the animal here described might be the civet ; 
but the description given is inapplicable to that animal ; nor, indeed, does 
the civet appear to have been known to the ancients. For further infor- 
mation, see the remarks of Cuvier, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 420, and Lemaire, . 
vol. iii. p. 386. Pliny, in B. xxi. c. 18, says that no animal, except the 
panther, has any odour. — B. 
23 Meaning the ^' spotted" or parti-coloured" female. 
2* Xenophon, in his Cynegeticon, says, that the pard is found on Mount 
Pangseus, in Macedonia ; the truth of which is denied by Aristotle, who 
says that it is not to be found in Europe. 
