resembles a plume of feathers. The cat of Angora is larger than the common wild cat. Some of the individuals of this kind are white, others of a dun colour; and all of them have a ruff of long hair round the neck, which gives them the appearance of small lions.

THE SERVAL.

THIS is a beautiful animal of the cat tribe, somewhat larger than the wild cat, and inhabits the mountainous parts of India. Its general colour is a pale yellow, but white on the belly and breast. The whole body is variegated with black spots, equally distributed on every part. The eyes are extremely bright and piercing, the tail short, and the feet armed with long, hooked claws.

The serval is extremely fierce, but avoids man, unless provoked, when it will dart furi

ously on the offender and attack him with teeth and claws in the same manner as the panther. It is seldom seen on the ground, living chiefly in trees, where it makes a nest, and rears its young, subsisting chiefly on birds, in pursuit of which it leaps from tree to tree with astonishing agility.

THE LION.

FROM his great size, and prodigious strength, the lion, undoubtedly the most dignified and majestic of quadrupeds, has been for ages popularly styled "The King of Beasts," and older travellers and poets have invested him with such attributes of courage, generosity, and magnanimity, as are not altogether confirmed by the observations of modern writers and naturalists.

The lion is spread over the whole continent

of Africa and the tropical regions of Asia. The average length of the African lion, from the end of the muzzle to the insertion of the tail, is about six feet, and the height above three feet. Some individuals, indeed, reach eight feet, and the Asiatic species has been known to exceed ten feet in length. His head is very large; his face is covered with short close hair, while the upper part of the head, the neck, and the shoulders, are coated with long, shaggy hair, hanging down below the breast and over the shoulders like a mane; the hair of the body being long, smooth, and of a uniformly pale tawny colour, inclining to white on the lower part. The tail is terminated by a long tuft of rather black hair, which is peculiar to the species.

The interior of Africa is more peculiarly the dominion of the lion, where he reigns supreme among the weaker animals. Dwelling in the thickest part of the forests, he