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第3章 融合！八道神雷火种！

almost like a dog.

Hy?na vulgaris. Desm.

From the strongly marked group, to the illustration of various species of which the foregoing pages have been dedicated, we pass by a natural and easy transition to an animal, which, although closely resembling them in its zoological characters, and in the cowardly ferocity of its disposition, bears nevertheless a stronger affinity to the dogs, with which it was associated by Linn?us. From each of these groups it is, however, readily distinguished by several obvious and essential characters, of sufficient importance to sanction its separation as a genus, now universally adopted among naturalists.

But even this limited degree of amiability, which, in an animal of less formidable powers, would be considered as indicating no peculiar mildness of temper, is modified by the calls of hunger, by the feelings of revenge, which he frequently cherishes for a considerable length of time, and by various other circumstances which render it dangerous[6] to approach him unguardedly, even in his tamest and most domesticated state, without previously ascertaining his immediate state of mind. On such occasions no keeper possessed of common prudence would be rash enough to venture upon confronting him: he knows too well that it is no boy’s play to

The mother and her whelps are admirably represented in the spirited group of portraits which heads the present article. The latter have all the playfulness of kittens,[15] and are fondled by their dam in a similar manner to that in which the domestic cat caresses her young. While they were small enough she carried them from place to place in her mouth, and showed the greatest solicitude to keep them from the view of strangers; and even now that they are grown too large for this mode of treatment, she continues to pay the strictest attention to the cleanliness of their persons, and licks their fur, as they tumble about her, with all the matronly dignity and gravity of an accomplished nurse.

at flight is in vain, he turns upon them with a fierceness and determination that nothing could withstand, were it not for the well proved superiority possessed by them in the formidable rifle, which, on such an emergency, they know how to direct with a steady and almost unerring aim.

places from the cavity of the jaw beneath them; but, on the contrary, are pushed forwards by the advance of those which are destined to replace them from behind, and are renewed, according to the statement of Mr. Corse, no less than eight times at different periods of the animal’s existence. On each successive change the number of lamin? of which they are composed is increased, the earliest not offering more than four, while the later ones frequently exceed twenty; and it is in consequence of the new teeth generally making their appearance for some time prior to the total failure of their predecessors that their number occasionally appears to be double its proper and more usual amount. The tusks on the contrary admit but of a single displacement and renewal; the first or milk pair seldom exceeding two inches in length, and falling out between the first and second year. The permanent ones which succeed are much larger and more powerful in the adult male than in the female, and not unfrequently project as much

It is in the night-time more particularly that the Lion prowls abroad in search of his prey, the conformation of his eyes not only, like those of the cat, allowing him to see with a very moderate degree of light, but even rendering the full glare of day distressing and intolerable to him. It is for this reason that travellers, who are compelled to sleep in the open air in countries infested by these animals, are careful to keep up a blazing fire, which the tenderness of their eyes deters them from approaching, unless when they are extremely hard pressed by the calls of hunger. These, it would appear, sometimes become paramount to every other consideration, and urge the Lion, as they do many more ignoble beasts, into the exhibition of a degree of courage, which,[19] in despite of all that has been said on the subject, is by no means his natural characteristic.

to enter: certain it is that it could not possibly have been the present animal, which has never been found out of the limits of America; and that Buffon himself had no idea, while he was figuring the latter, that the specimen before him was not a native of Africa or the East. The name of Jaguar is corruptedly derived from the Brazilian appellation of the animal, to which the Portuguese have given the name of On?a; another blunder, for the Ounce of the Old World is now universally allowed to be identical with the Leopard, and with the latter we have already shown that it is impossible that the American species can be conjoined.