LYNX, a common name for the different varieties of Felis lynx, or, as some zoölogists think, of the different species of the genus Lyncus. The Greek lyngx was probably the caracal. Lynxes shared with leopards the duty of drawing the chariot of Bacchus; Pliny calls them the most “sharp-sighted of all quadrupeds,” hence the epithet lynx-eyed. 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 less 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 Scandinavia, Russia, the N, of Asia, and formerly in the forest regions of central Europe; F. cervaria is a native of Siberia; F. pardina of Turkey, Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain; and F. isabellina of Tibet. The New World has also four lynxes: F. canadensis, the Canada lynx, the most N. species; F. rufa, the bay or red lynx, extending nearly over the United States, but giving place in Texas and the S. of California to F. maculata, and in Oregon and Washington to F. fasciata. Professor Flower is of opinion that, on further investigation, all these will be found to be varieties of a single species.
LYNX
In astronomy, 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.