346 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



animals caught in a trap or enclosure attacking and 

 destroying each other in their frenzy ; and the fact 

 that some fierce-tempered carnivorous mammals 

 will devour the companion they have killed. It is 

 an instinct of animals like wolves and peccaries to 

 devour the enemy they have overcome and slain : 

 thus, when the jaguar captures a peccary out of a 

 drove, and does not quickly escape with his prize 

 into a tree, he is instantly attacked and slain and 

 then consumed, even to the skin and bones. This 

 is the wolf's and the peccary's instinct ; and the 

 devouring of one of their own companions is an 

 inevitable consequence of the mistake made in the 

 first place of attacking and killing it. In no other 

 circumstances, not even when starving, do they prey 

 on their own species. 



If the explanation I have offered should seem a 

 true or highly probable one, it will, I feel sure, 

 prove acceptable to many lovers of animals, who, 

 regarding this seemingly ruthless instinct, not as 

 an aberration but as in some vague way advantage- 

 ous to animals in their struggle for existence, are 

 yet unable to think of it without pain and horror ; 

 indeed, I know those who refuse to think of it at 

 all, who would gladly disbelieve it if they could. 



It should be a relief to them to be able to look on 

 it no longer as something ugly and hateful, a blot 

 on nature, but as an illusion, a mistake, an un- 

 conscious crime, so to speak, that has for its motive 

 the noblest passion that animals know that sub- 

 lime courage and daring which they exhibit in 

 defence of a distressed companion. This fiery spirit 

 in animals, which makes them forget their own 



