330 NATV3A LIST'S 



Arttnety, caMed the jagtmrrttc. 



numbers have been destroyed, and the rest hav- 

 ing retired from the coast, in dread of man, to 

 seek refuge in the more desert, and interior parts 

 of the country. 



The method of taking these creatures among 

 the negroes is, generally, in a pitfall, covered 

 with hurdles, and baited with some living animal. 



Unlike the Asiatic tiger, the jaguar is capable 

 of being tamed, and is gratified by attention and 

 caresses; it has, however, been found unsafe to 

 trust it beyond a certain degree. 



The jaguarette is an animal inhabiting the 

 same regions, and possessing the identical quali- 

 ties and dispositions of the jaguar, so that natu- 

 ralists have been at a loss to determine whether 

 they were two distinct species of the same genus, 

 or only varieties of the same species; both Piso 

 and Marcgrave, the only writers who seemed to 

 have an opportunity of giving original descrip- 

 tions of this animal, say, that its hair is shorter, 

 more glossy, and variegated with spots of a 

 deeper black, than those of the jaguar ; but, in 

 every other respect, they bear the most perfect 

 resemblance : we may, therefore, with great pro- 

 priety, fix this animal merely as a variety of one 

 and the same species. 



It might be here worthy of remark, that the 

 most observable distinction in the tiger, and in 

 which it differs from all others of the mottled 

 kind, is, in the shape of its colours, which run in 

 the same direction as the ribs, in bands, or stripes, 



