96 LLOYD*S NATURAL HtSTORY. 



frequently occurs ; one example described by Azara being so 

 pale-coloured that the rosettes were only visible in certain 

 lights. 



Pupil of the eye round. Skull distinguished from that of 

 either of the preceding species by the presence of a distinct 

 tubercle of variable size in the middle of the inner side of the 

 rim of the orbit. Length usually about 6 feet 2 inches, of 

 which about 2 feet 1 inch are taken up by the tail. 



Our illustration is taken from the skin of a very fine speci- 

 men, in which the markings were of a deep cliocolate-brown, 

 upon a yellowish ground, and were remarkable for their clear- 

 ness. Along the middle line of the back there was almost a 

 line of open spots, only occasionally interrupted, and the next 

 two lines were of an oval or diamond shape, producing a very 

 beautiful appearance. Upon the sides the rings became more 

 defined and distinct, and many of them possessed the small 

 spot or spots in the centre, forming one of the characters of 

 the species. 



The skin forming the type of Leopardus Jicniandcsii came 

 from Mexico, and indicates a variety or local race of the 

 species distinguished by the distance at which the small spots 

 are placed from one another, so that it is only here and there 

 that they form anything like a distinct ring or row. 



Distribution.— America; from Louisiana, Texas, and Northern 

 Mexico to about the Rio Negro, on the northern confines of 

 Patagonia, in latitude 40 S. 



Habits. — Although in the greater part of its range the Jaguar 

 is an inhabitant of vast primeval forests, where it climbs among 

 the branches with the facility and agility of a Monkey, yet it 

 was formerly found in considerable numbers on the open 

 grassy pampas of Argentina, where, however, it has now been 

 well nigh exterminated. Throughout South America, the 





