THE MANED AGUARA. 243 



all the four feet sooty-black ; the hair is rather 

 long and shaggy, on the throat and breast whitish, 

 with an irregular sooty spot, beginning beneath the 

 jaws and passing on each side towards the corners 

 of the mouth ; from the occiput to the end of the 

 shoulders runs a ridge of long coarse hair, the upper 

 half of which is black ; the tail, moderately hairy, 

 is mixed, darkish on the upper surface, red and 

 grizzly below and at the tip. The hair from the 

 hips down the edge of the buttocks is four inches 

 in length ; that on the belly is likewise long. The 

 dentition, excepting the asserted want of a tubercu- 

 lar, agrees with the other species of canidae ; but is 

 inferior in strength to that of true wolves ; and the 

 number of mammae are only six. The female resem- 

 bles the male in every particular of colour. 



This species is not found north of the equinoctial 

 line, but resides chiefly in the swampy and more 

 open regions of Paraguay and bnshy plains of Cam- 

 pos Geraes ; its habits are solitary and nocturnal ; 

 it swims with great facility, and hunts by the seen* 

 feeding on small game, aquatic animals, &c. 



The Aguara guazu is not a dangerous animal, 

 being much less daring than the wolves of the north ; 

 it is harmless to cattle, and the opinion commonly 

 held in Paraguay, that beef cannot be digested by 

 its stomach, was in some measure verified by Dr 

 Parlet, who found by experiments made upon a 

 captive animal, that it rejected the raw flesh after 

 i deglutition, and only retained it when given boiled. 

 Kind treatment to this individual did not produce 



