_ a mother, and she is then in a constant
state of excitement, getting into the most violent fury if any one
should attempt to touch her cubs." The story of the lioness which one
night attacked one of the horses of the Exeter mail has been told so
many different ways, that I am glad to copy the correct account from
Captain Brown's "Popular Natural History":--"She had made her escape
from a travelling Menagerie, on its way to Salisbury fair, and suddenly
seized one of the leading horses. This, of course, produced great alarm
and confusion, which was not lessened by perceiving what the enemy was;
and two inside passengers took refuge in a house. A large mastiff
attacked the intruder, upon which she quited the horse, and turned upon
him; he fled, but she pursued and killed him, after running forty
yards. On the alarm being given, her keepers went after her, till she
took refuge under a granary, with the dog still within her teeth. They
barricaded her there to prevent her escape, and she roared there so
loudly, that she was heard half a mile off. She was afterwards secured
and taken to her den; and of course her adventure increased the
celebrity of the menagerie to which she belonged. Before this happened,
she was considered as very tame, and never had given any signs of
ferocity; she therefore affords another example, that it is not safe to
trust these animals: of course the poor horse was dreadfully torn, and
the expressions of his agony were most affecting; the lioness, however,
had missed the vital parts."

The Puma or Cougar, of North and South America, is generally called a
lion, but he has no mane, or tufted tail, and when young, his pale, fawn
coat, is striped with blackish brown. These marks however, disappear
with age. He is the largest of the feline tribe on that continent, and
is very destructive to smaller animals. He rarely attacks man, and on
some occasions evinces as much courage as the true lion, and a curious
observation has been made by travellers, that he becomes less bold as he
approaches to the north. One given to Professor Jamieson of Edinburgh,
seemed to delight in playing with a tub of water, he also played with
dogs and monkeys without the slightest interruption to their good
understanding; but if a goat or a fowl came in sight, they were snapped
up immediately. He made his escape one night in London; and offered no
resistance when caught by a watchman. He is hunted on the Pampas by
dogs, and the I