FELIS. 
with no fewer than four hundred; and 
Pompey imported at vast expence, and 
with the most elaborate research, the im- 
mense number of three hundred and fifteen 
males, and two hundred and seventy-five 
females. For the lion and lioness, and their 
whelps, see Mammalia, Plate XIII. 
F. tigris, the tiger. This is called by 
Linnaeus the most beautiful of quadrupeds, 
a character, which would not be thought 
correctly applicable, were the judgment 
on this subject to be determined from the 
skins in a museum, or from a view of the 
animal itself, in that confined state in which 
it must ever appear in this country. But 
in its natjve region, and unchecked health 
and energies, it exhibits a bloom and ra- 
diance unequalled by any of the brute crea- 
tion. Its ground colour is an intense 
orange colour, and defined stripes of pure 
black, in some parts double, and in others 
single, mark its body tranversely, extend- 
ing through the clear white of the sides. It 
is little inferior in size to the lion, and in 
some instances has been seen even larger 
than any lion mentioned by travellers, ex- 
tending from the nose to the end of the tail, 
to fifteen feet in length. Of all the carni- 
vorous tribes, this species is considered as 
the most sanguinary and destructive. It 
appears to delight in the infliction of pain 
atld the effusion of blood. After satisfying 
its hunger it still continues to worry and 
destroy. If unmolested in the enjoyment 
of its prey, it will absolutely bathe its head 
in the blood and entrails of its victim, and 
while exhibiting this spectacle of horror, ap- 
pear to enjoy that ecstacy, which arises 
necessarily from the gratification of the 
most impetuous and irresistible instincts. 
Though frequently confined, its ferocity is 
incapable of being subdued, and those 
sports, or freedoms, on thfe part of its 
keeper, which the lion admits with impu- 
nity, if not with satisfaction, would be fatal 
to the man who should dare to attempt 
practising them with the tiger. Tigers are 
found only in Asia, and attain their perfec- 
tions of size and beauty, and their extreme 
degree of rapacity and fierceness in India, 
where they commit often the most dreadful 
havoc, and lurking among thickets, and near 
villages, assault unwary travellers as well 
as the inferior animals; and in districts 
thinly peopled, are the most dreadful ter- 
ror and plague of the inhabitants. They sel- 
dom, if ever, engage in the violent and per- 
severing chase of any animal, but practise 
almost uniformly, the mode of ambush, 
rushing on their victim with almost unerring 
accuracy, and making those extensive 
bounds, which can result only from super- 
lative elasticity and vigour. 
The name liger, in the language of the 
Armenians, signifies an arrow, and aptly 
expresses the agility of those movements, 
by which these animals seize upon their 
prey. The sounds which they utter in this 
moment of seizure, are stated to be the 
most hideous and appalling that imagina- 
tion can conceive. Animals of considera- 
ble size are not only attacked by a tiger 
without the slightest hesitation, but give 
no impediment from their bulk to his car- 
rying them off to some thicket, where he 
may enjoy in unmolested solitude, his feast 
of carnage. A man, or ev en a young buffalo, 
has been thus disposed of by him with great 
facility, and after sucking the blood of his 
victims with the most intense application, 
he proceeds to tear them in pieces and de- 
vour them. Conflicts, are reported by tra- 
vellers, not unfrequently to occur between 
the lion and the tiger, carried on with all 
that intrepidity and perseverance, with all 
that energy and fierceness, which might 
naturally be expected, and ending some- 
times only in the complete destruction or 
mutilation of both. At Siam it is not un- 
usual for elephants to be baited by a tiger, 
constituting a similar display of savage 
power and skill, with what is afforded in 
this country by a bull and dogs. Two ele- 
phants, well defended by artificial guards 
on their heads and great part of their trunks, 
are related in one instance, to have been 
introduced to the arena, where was a tiger 
tethered by cords : one of the elephants 
approaching it while under this extreme 
disadvantage, struck it several heavy blows 
on its back, and laid it motionless on the 
ground ; it was then untied, and soon after- 
wards, being considerably recovered, it 
bounded with an immense spring and a 
most hideous roar at the trunk of its anta- 
gonist, who parried the attempt with as- 
tonishing adroitness, and receiving the tiger 
on his tusks, hurled it into the air. The 
other elephant was at this time unfairly 
allowed to join its companion, and each in- 
flicted several severe blows on their com- 
mon enemy, who must have perished, in- 
deed, under their united efforts, if the fight 
had not been terminated at thi3 crisis by 
the governors’ command. The boldness 
and vigour of the tiger were sufficiently 
displayed, however, and considering the 
restraints under which he laboured, aud his 
