CARNIVORA. 
65 
wild cats, martins, ermines, squirrels, &c., pursuing 
them up into trees, where also it will lie in wait to 
drop on deer, goats, &c., that may pass beneath. It 
is sanguivorous ; and, having seized on a prey, is 
said frequently to suck the blood, and then leave it for 
another victim ; whence it has been asserted, that the 
lynx has the least memory of all animals. Its skin is 
changed by climate and season ; and in high lati- 
tudes, particularly in winter, the fur is much finer 
and thicker, and more esteemed. 
Why the treacherous Lyncus should have been 
transformed into a lynx, and this animal be in con- 
sequence held up in terrorem to the world as an 
example of perfidy, is not stated by Ovid ; who, 
while he relates the tale, ‘‘ Lynca Ceres fecit,’^ like 
a true chronicler, abstains from all comment. A 
namesake of the Scythian king, Lynceus the argo- 
naut, who, by the by, was a sheep-stealer, or some- 
thing worse, appears also to have been in some way 
allied to this animal, in the opinion of antiquity; as 
the powers of vision of both were considered equally 
extensive and surprising, and no doubt with equal 
truth ; but if so, the eyes of the lynx must have 
suffered in these degenerate days. Other marvellous 
stories were also told, by the ancient naturalists, of 
the lynx, which have gained credit, in later times, 
with the vulgar, and with those who are easily cre- 
dulous, and too idle to seek for truth at the expense 
of trouble. 
The lynx was formerly spread over the old world, 
F 
