lynx, lince

[Lat. from Gr. lyngx.] 1. Zool .: A common name for the different varieties of Felis lynx , or, as some zoologists think, of the different species of the genus Lyncus (q.v.). The Greek lynge was probably the Caracal (q.v.) (cf. Ovid, Met ,, xv. 413). Lynxes shared with leopards 32) calls them the most "sharp-sighted of all quadrupeds," hence the epithet lynx-eyed (q. v.). The lynxes are all of moderate size, but larger than the true cats; limbs long, tail short and stumpy, ears tipped with a pencil of hair, the cheeks bearded, and pads of the feet overgrown with hair; color, light-brown or gray, more or le spotted with a darker shade. They are fierce and savage, and prey on sheep and poultry. Their skins are valuable as fur. Felis lynx is the Common Lynx, found in Scand in a via, Ru ia, the north of Asia, and formerly in the forest regions of Central Europe; F. ervaria is a native of Siberia; F. pardina of Turkey, Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain; and F. is a bell in a of Tibet. The New World has also four lynxes: F. can a dens is , the Canada Lynx, the most northern species; F. rufa , the Bay or Red Lynx, extending nearly over the United States, but giving place in Texas and the south of California to F. maculata , and in Oregon and Washington to F. fasci at a . Prof. Flower is of opinion that, on further investigation, all these will be found to be varieties of a single species. 2. Astron.: A constellation of Hevelius, between the head of Ursa Major and the star Capella. None of the stars in the group are larger than the fourth magnitude. lynx-eyed, a. Having sharp, acute sight. ly-on, s. [LION.]