The gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences have given a very accurate
description of the Lynx, and have discussed with equal ingenuity and
erudition the circumstances and names relative to this animal, which
occur in the writings of the ancients. They have shewn that the lynx
of Ælian is the same animal which they have dissected and described
under the name of Lupus-cervarius, and justly censure those who have
taken it for the Thos of Aristotle. This discussion is enriched with
observations and reflections equally interesting and pertinent; it is
a pity, therefore, they had not adopted its real name of lynx, instead
of that which is the same that Gaza gave to the _thos_ of Aristotle.
Having, like Oppian, intimated that there are two species or races of
the lynx, the one large, which chaces the stag and fallow-deer, and
the other smaller, which scarcely hunts any thing but the hare, they
appear to have confounded the two species together, namely, the spotted
lynx, which is commonly found in the northern countries; and the lynx
of the Levant or Barbary, whose skin is of an uniform colour. I have
seen both these animals alive, and they closely resemble each other
in many particulars. They have both long stripes of black hair at the
extremities of their ears. This very circumstance, by which Ælian first
distinguished the lynx, belongs, in fact, to these animals only, and
perhaps it was this which induced the Academy to consider them as the
same species. But, independently of the difference of colour and spots
upon the hair, it will appear extremely probable that they belong to
two distinct species.
Klein says, that the most beautiful lynx belongs to Africa and Asia in
general, and to Persia in particular; that he had seen one at Dresden,
which came from Africa, which was finely spotted, and of a considerable
height; that those of Europe, especially from Prussia, and other
northern countries are less pleasing to the eye, that their colour is
little, if at all, inclined to white, but rather of a reddish hue,
with spots confused and huddled together. Without absolutely denying
what M. Klein has here advanced, I must declare I could never learn
from any other authority that the lynx is an inhabitant of the warm
climates of Asia and Africa. Kolbe is the only writer who mentions the
lynx as common at the Cape of Good Hope, and as perfectly resembling
that of Brandenburg in Germany; but I have discovered so many mistakes
in the writings of this author, that I never gave much credit to his
testimony, unless when supported by that of others. Now all travellers
mention having seen the spotted lynx in the North of Germany, in
Lithuania, Muscovy, Siberia, Canada, and other northern regions of both
continents; but not one, whose accounts I have read, asserts he met
with this animal in the warm climates of Africa or Asia. The lynxes
of the Levant, Barbary, Arabia, and other hot climates, are, as I
before observed, of one uniform colour, and without spots; they cannot,
therefore, be the same as that mentioned by Klein, which he says was
finely spotted, nor that of Kolbe, which, according to his statement,
perfectly resembled those of Brandenburgh. It would be difficult to
reconcile these testimonies with the information we have from other
hands. The lynx is certainly more common in cold than in temperate
climates, and is at least very rare in hot ones. He was, indeed, known
to the Greeks and Romans; a circumstance which does not, however, infer
that he came from Africa, or the southern provinces of Asia. Pliny, on
the contrary, says, that the first of them which were seen at Rome,
came from Gaul in the time of Pompey. At present there are none in
France, except possibly a few in the Alpine and Pyrenean mountains.
But the Romans, under the name of Gaul, comprehended several of the
northern countries; and, besides, France is not at this time so cold as
it was in those times.
The most beautiful skins of the lynx come from Siberia, as belonging to
the _Loup-cervier_, and from Canada, under the name of _chat-cervier_,
because, like all other animals, they are smaller in the new than in
the old world; and are therefore compared to the wolf in Europe, and
to the cat in Canada. What seems to have deceived M. Klein, and might
have deceived even more able writers is, first, that the ancients have
said that India furnished lynxes to the god Bacchus; secondly, Pliny
has placed the lynx in Ethiopia, and has said their hides and claws
were prepared at Carpathos, now Scarpantho or Zerpantho, an island
in the Mediterranean, between Rhodes and Candia; thirdly, Gesner has
allotted a particular article to the lynx of Asia or Africa, in which
there is the following extract of a letter from Baron Balicze. "You
have not," says he to Gesner, "mentioned in your history of animals,
the Indian or African lynx. As Pliny has mentioned it, the authority
of that great man has induced me to send you a drawing of this animal,
that you may include it in your list. This drawing was made at
Constantinople. This animal is very different from the lynx of Germany,
being much larger, has shorter and rougher hair, &c." Gesner, without
making any reflections on this letter, contents himself with giving the
substance of it, and intimating within a parenthesis, that the drawing
never came to hand.
To prevent a continuance of these errors, let it be observed, first,
that poets and painters have affixed tigers, panthers, and lynxes,
to the car of Bacchus, as best pleased their fancies; or rather
because all fierce and spotted animals were consecrated to that god;
secondly, that it is the word _lynx_ which constitutes the whole of
the ambiguity, since by comparing what Pliny says in one[M] passage
with two others[N] it is plain that the Ethiopian animal which he calls
lynx, is by no means the same as the chaus, or lupus-cervarius, which
comes from the northern countries; and that it was from this name
being improperly applied that the Baron Balicze was deceived though he
considers the Indian lynx as a different animal from the German luchs,
or our lynx. This Indian or African lynx, which he has described as
larger and more full of spots than our lynx, was in all probability,
a kind of panther. However true or erroneous this last conjecture
may be, it appears that the lynx, of which we are now treating, is a
stranger in the southern countries, and is found only in the northern
parts of the new and old continents. Olaus says this animal is common
in the forests of the North of Europe; Olearius, in speaking of
Muscovy, asserts the same thing; Rosinus Lentilius observes that the
lynx is common in Courland and Lithuania, and that those of Cassubia,
a province of Pomerania, are very small, and not so much spotted as
those of Poland and Lithuania; and lastly, Paul Jovius confirms these
testimonies by adding, that the finest skins of the lynx come from
Siberia, and that there is a great traffic carried on with them at
Ustivaga, a town about 600 miles from Moscow.
[Footnote M: Vide Pliny, lib. VIII. cap. 19.]
[Footnote N: Ibid. VIII. c. 22, 23.]
This animal, which as we have shewn, prefers the cold to the temperate
climates, is one of those which might have passed from one continent to
the other through the northern regions, and this is probably the reason
why we find him a tenant of the northern parts of America. Travellers
have described him in such a manner as to preclude all mistake; and
besides its skin forms an article of commerce between Europe and
America. The lynx of Canada, as we have already remarked, is only
smaller and whiter than those of Europe, and it is from this difference
in size that they have been distinguished with the appellation of
_chat-cervier_, and been considered by our nomenclators as animals of a
different species. Without pronouncing decisively upon this question we
shall only observe, that to all appearance the lynxes of Canada and of
Muscovy are of the same species, first because the difference in size
is not very considerable, since it is almost relatively the same as
that which takes place between all animals common to both continents;
the wolf, fox, &c. being smaller in America than they are in Europe, it
cannot be expected to be otherwise with the lynx. Secondly, because,
even in the north of Europe, these animals are found to vary in size;
and authors mention two kinds, the one large and the other small.
Thirdly, because they equally require the same climate, are of the
same dispositions, the same figure, differing only in size, and a
few trifling particulars of colour, circumstances not sufficient to
authorize our pronouncing them to be two distinct species.
The lynx, of which the ancients have said his sight could penetrate
opaque bodies, and whose urine possessed the properly of hardening
into a precious stone, called Lapis Lyncurius, is an animal that never
existed, any more than the properties attributed to him, except in
fable. To the true lynx this imaginary one has no affinity but in name.
We must not, therefore, following the example of most naturalists,
attribute to the former, which is a real being, the properties of this
imaginary one, the existence of which even Pliny himself does not seem
disposed to believe, since he speaks of it as an extraordinary animal,
and classes it with the sphynx, the pegasus, and other prodigies, or
monsters, the produce of Ethiopia, a country with which the ancients
were very little acquainted.
Our lynx, though he cannot see through stone walls, has bright eyes, a
mild aspect, and an agreeable lively appearance. His urine produces not
precious stones, but he covers it with earth, like the cats, to whom he
has a near resemblance, and whose manners, and love of cleanliness are
the same. In nothing is he like the wolf but in a kind of howl, which
being heard at a considerable distance often deceives the hunters, by
making them suppose they hear a real wolf. This alone, perhaps, is
the cause of his having received the appellation of _loup_, and to
distinguish him from the real wolf, and because he attacks the stags,
the epithet of _cervarius_ might have afterwards been added. The lynx
is not so big as the wolf, has shorter legs, and generally about the
size of a fox. He differs from the panther and ounce in the following
particulars; he has longer hair, his spots are less lively, and are
badly disposed; his ears are much longer, and they have tufts of black
hairs at the points; his tail is shorter, and is also black at the end;
his eyes have a whitish cast, and his countenance is more agreeable,
and less ferocious. The skin of the male is more spotted than that of
the female. He does not run like the wolf, but walks and bounds like
the cat. He lives upon other animals, and those he pursues to the
tops of the highest trees, so that neither the wild-cat, pine-weasel,
ermine, nor squirrel, can escape him. He also seizes birds, lies in
wait for the stag, roe-buck, and hare, whom he seizes by the throat,
sucks their blood, and then opens their heads to devour the brains;
this done he frequently abandons them to go in search of fresh prey,
and is seldom known to return to the former one; which has given rise
to the remark, that of all animals the lynx has the shortest memory.
His colour changes with the climate and the season. In winter his fur
is much better than in summer, and his flesh, like that of all beasts
of prey, is not good to eat.