FLESH-EATING ANIMALS. 43

attaining to a length of five and a half inches including the
tail. The water shrew colonises on the banks of rivers.
ORDER Iv, The order of flesh-eating animals (ca nivora)
Flesh-eating includes a large number of species among which
Animals. are the lion, the tiger and the leopard, as
well as the cat and the dog. The two sub-orders into
which this order is divided are: I, The Fissipedia, and II, The
Pinnipedia. The Fissipedia are again divided into ten fami-
lies; lions, cats, dogs, hyenas, weasels, and bears being the
most important members. The Pinnipedia includes the seal,
the sea lion, the walrus and their allies.
Animals of the cat kind are distinguished
SUB-ORDER I. 2 ‘ 2
The Fissipedia. PY their sharp and formidable claws, which
Animals of the they can hide or extend at pleasure. They
Cat Kind. are remarkable for their rapacity, subsisting
entirely on the flesh and blood of other animals. The dog,
wolf, and bear, are sometimes known to live on vegetables,
or farinaceous food; but the lion, the tiger, the leopard, and
other animals of this class, devour nothing but flesh, and
would starve upon. any other provision. They lead a solitary,
ravenous life, uniting neither for mutual defence, like vegetable
feeders, nor for mutual support, like those of the dog kind.
The first of the class is the lion, distinguished from all the
rest by his strength, his magnitude, and his mane. The
second is the tiger, rather longer than the lion, but not so
tall, and known by the streaks and vivid beauty of its skin;
here we may also mention the puma, which is sometimes
called a panther, or colloquially a “painter”, otherwise a
couguar, or American lion, which is of a tawny colour. The
next is the leopard, sometimes called a panther, and the next
the jaguar, followed by the ounce, not so large as any of the
former, spotted like them, but distinguished by the cream-
coloured ground of its hair, and a tail so long as to exceed
the length of its body. The next is the catamountain, or
tiger-cat, less than the ounce, but differing particularly in