416 THE AGOUARA, OR CRAB-EATER. 
and they very unceremoniously closed upon him, curs as they were, and without the 
breeding of gentle dogs. One seized him by the rump, and tugged, but was soon foreed 
to let go; another stuck to his side, but soon taking a better directed bite of his muzzle 
than another dog had just of his tail, ‘Coon made him yelp; and pitiful were the cries of 
luckless tyke. 
The Racoon would not let go, but in the meantime the other dogs seized him fast, 
and worried him to death, yet to the last he held by his antagonist’s snout. Knocked on 
the head by an axe, he lay gasping his last breath, and the he saving of his chest was 
painful to see. The hunters stood eazing at him in the pool, while all around was by the 
flare of the torch rendered trebly dark and dismal. It was a good scene for arskilful 
painter.” 
In size, the Racoon equals a small fox, to which animal it bears a slight external 
resemblance. The number of its young is usually two or three, and they make their 
appearance in the month of May. 
THE AGOUARA, OR CRAB-EATER.—Proeyon Cancrivoerus, 
THe AGOUARA, or CRAB-EATING RACOON, is a native of a warmer portion of America 
than the common Racoon, and has derived its name of Crab-eater from its habit of 
feeding on all kinds of crustaceas and molluscs, whether marine or terrestrial, although 
perhaps it is not more addicted to canecricide than the animal which has just been 
described. In size it is larger than the common Racoon, and its colour is not quite the 
same. 
The tail is short in proportion to the body, and is marked with six black rings upon a 
ereyish or blackish-yellow ground. The fur of the body is rather variable in different 
individuals, but is gene) vally composed of a blackish-grey washed with a tinge of yellow, 
the darker and the lighter tints predominating on different parts of the body and limbs. 
On the head, neck, and along the spine, the black tinge prevails, while the rest of the 
body and the sides of the neck are almost wholly of the yellowish-grey hue. A very 
dark brown pateh incloses each eye, and, passing backwards almost to the ears, is merged 
into a dark spot on the crown of the head. The Racoon has been mentioned by several 
travellers under different names, such as Raton, Mapach, Agouarapope, Ylanraton, 
Maxile, Wasch-Biir, and Cioutlamacasque. 
THE animals which compose the curious genus that is known by the name of Narica, 
are easily recognised on account of the singular leneth of the nose, which is prolonged so 
