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JAGUAR. 



CHAPTER III 



Tropical America and its Animals 



Tropical America, in which may be included the southern half of the Florida 

 Peninsula, Mexico, Central America, and the northern half of South America, varies 

 greatly in its physical features, containing as it does a portion of the lofty chain 

 of the Andes, and the teeming forests of the Amazon and the Orinoco, together 

 with the open campos of Brazil. Its flora is perhaps the richest in the world ; 

 while its fauna is perhaps more peculiar and remarkable than that of any other 

 part of the globe except Australasia. This area is, for instance, the sole habitat of the 

 true edentate mammals, such as the sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos, together with 

 many other peculiar types of both mammals and birds. Formerly indeed, South 

 America, when it was cut off by sea from the northern half of the New World, 

 possessed an absolutely peculiar fauna ; but since the union of the two continents the 

 southern types have been introduced into North America, while the forms originally 

 characteristic of that area have passed south, so that the distinction between the 

 vol. ii — 23 



