40 
CARNIVORA. 
orbicular spots, the lower part with stripes. This 
short description, it has been well observed, is in- 
applicable to any known species of the genus. Per- 
haps it is nearer to the servals than to any other. 
His characters of the leopard are, Felis, cauda me- 
diocri, corpore fulvo, maculis subcoadunatis nigris.’^ 
With a moderate tail, a fulvous body covered with 
subcontiguous black spots."' Dr. Shaw observes : “ In 
the 12th edition of the Systema Natur£e, the panther 
and leopard seem to be confounded by Linneus him- 
self, who appears to have considered them as the 
same species, under the name of pardus."^ And if 
we consider the description given to the panther to 
be irrelevant and factitious, it follows, that Linneus 
has only described one species of the large spotted 
cats found in Asia and Africa, which must include 
the varise et pardi and leopardi of the Romans. 
Buffon, the brilliancy of whose work has blinded 
mankind to his imperfections, imbibed an idea, 
which he never seems to have lost sight of, that the 
American animals were degenerate, and less in size 
than the species of the old world belonging to the 
same order : hence, probably, he was led into a mis- 
understanding, or too willingly confirmed in error, 
on this subject. He has mistaken the jaguar, vLich 
he describes from an ocelot; and refers the former 
animal, because probably it was a large species, to 
the panther of the ancients; transposing his figures 
accordingly. The furriers and exhibiters of wild 
beasts have imbibed this error; and the jaguar of 
