HISTORY OF THE JAGUAR 105 



thickly marked with small, black spots, and the 

 rest of the body is covered with rosettes formed 

 of rings of black spots, with an occasional black 

 spot in the center, and arranged lengthwise along 

 the body in five to seven rows on each side. The 

 black markings are heaviest along the back. All 

 the under parts and inside of the legs are pure 

 white, marked w r ith occasional spots of black. 

 From the root of the tail, extending halfway, are 

 large spots, some enclosing light centers, and 

 from about midway to the tip it is ringed with 

 black. The ears are black, with a buff spot at 

 the tip. The nose is usually a pinkish brown. I 

 have seen some quite pink, while others were de- 

 cidedly more brown. Some specimens I have seen 

 from Mexico have the small spots which ordinar- 

 ily constitute the rings, at a considerable distance 

 from one another, so that complete rings or ro- 

 settes only occasionally appear. The fleshy part 

 of the lips is black, which, when parted, make 

 the cruel, white fangs stand out in contrast. 



The total average length of a fine specimen is 

 from 6^/2 to 7% feet, the males averaging a foot 

 longer than the females. The tail is much shorter 

 compared to that of the leopard, and in a large 

 male seldom occupies more than 2 feet 2 inches 

 pf its length. The girth of the chest is about 3 



