Another large and important order of hair-clad mammals must now be considered, and the same course as in the case of the ungulates will be followed; the two leading families of Felidæ and Canidæ will be taken, and a type of each examined in reference to its hair-distribution. Lydekker gives about 100 pages to the cats and 80 to the dogs, so from the point of view of general biology there seems little to choose between them. The bears, racoons, weasel tribe, seals and walruses may be put out of account. They are painfully old-fashioned or Normal as to the arrangement of their hair.
First things first is always a good rule, and there is little doubt where we ought to begin among the families and species Carnivores. Among Felidæ one cannot unfortunately choose the harmless necessary cat of tiles, areas, firesides and ladies’ laps, to say nothing of those lovers of cats like Huxley who would never eject his cat from his armchair if she had been there before him. It is true that we know much of her daily and nightly mode of life--many of us too much--and in that respect one could set to work with confidence in interpreting her hair patterns, but on account of her long and thick coat we can only speculate what patterns or innovations of her family uniform she might have devised; but here we are not concerned with romance or the “might have beens.” It will be remarked that one perforce unconsciously calls the domestic cat “she” as sailors do their ships. I understand that in Somersetshire they call everything of their common life “he” except the tom-cat who is always “she.” The reasons for the use of genders in different creatures would be an interesting little study.
The King of Beasts will, therefore, be the hero of this chapter. Lydekker tells us that the lion, like many heroes of antiquity who are no heroes to their valets, in spite of his character for grandeur, nobility and courage, has been subjected to the merciless higher criticism of modern travellers, Selous, Livingstone, and others, and he has been shown up as cowardly by nature and mean in his general conduct. It remains for some learned scholar to whitewash the hyæna, as someone has done for Caesar Borgia, and to put him in the place of the lion. But Lydekker does not admit that this disparagement of the lion goes very far. He _is_ the King of Beasts by grandeur of appearance, strength and ferocity.
