JAGUAR. 395 



considerable amount of individual variation in the general colour, and also in the 

 arrangement of the spots. Examples from the more southern portions of the 

 animal's range are stated to tend to a more yellow hue, sometimes becoming almost 

 white ; while in the region of the Orinoco there is, according to Humboldt, a darker 

 variety, in which the dark brown fur is marked with scarcely distinguishable black 

 spots, and some individuals are completely black. A variety from Mexico is 

 characterised by the distance at which the small spots which ordinarily constitute 

 the rings are placed from one another, so that complete rings or rosettes of spots 

 only occasionally occur. 



The skull may be distinguished at a glance from that of any of the other large 

 cats by the presence of a well-marked tubercle near the middle of the inner side of 

 the socket of the eye or orbit. The total average length of the jaguar may be set 

 down at about 6 feet 2 inches, of which the tail occupies 2 feet 1 inch, equal to about a 

 third the length of the head and body. A large example measured by the naturalist 

 Azara had, however, a total length of 6 feet 9 inches, of which the tail occupied 

 2 feet 2 inches ; while a still larger specimen is said to have measured upwards of 

 5 feet from the tip of th^ nose to the root of the tail. The range of the jaguar 

 embraces the whole of the country lying between the north of Mexico and Texas 

 and the northern parts of Patagonia ; its southern limit coinciding approximately 

 with the fortieth parallel of south latitude. 



The jaguar is one of the most expert climbers among the larger cats ; and it is 

 stated by Humboldt, on the authority of the natives, that in certain districts of 

 South America, where the forests are subject to inundation, and the trees stand so 

 thickly that the passage from one to another is perfectly easy, the jaguar will 

 sometimes take to an arboreal life, preying upon the troops of monkeys that 

 inhabit the forests. All writers are agreed as to its ferocious nature and likewise 

 as to its noisiness, Humboldt speaking very feelingly as to the loudness and fre- 

 quency of its cries ; but there is no record of its having attacked human beings 

 without provocation. 



Darwin states that in the forest districts of South America its favourite 

 haunts are the wooded banks of rivers and the reed-clad margins of lakes. And it 

 appears that in general the neighbourhood of water is as essential to its well-being 

 as it is to that of the tiger. But in the pampas of Argentina the jaguar inhabits 

 a district where water is scarce, and where trees are practically unknown ; and it 

 is, evidently capable of modifying its habits to a considerable extent in accordance 

 with its surroundings. Writing of its occurrence in the pampas, Mr. W. H. 

 Hudson, in his charming work, The Naturalist in La Plata, observes that prob- 

 ably only an extreme abundance of Mammalian prey, which has not existed in 

 recent times, could have tempted an animal of the habits of the jaguar to 

 colonise this cold, treeless, and comparatively waterless desert. 



In the well- watered districts it is stated that the jaguar will sometimes prey 

 to a considerable extent upon fish ; and Humboldt relates that it is partial to the 

 eggs of the turtles which are so abundant on the Orinoco, and even to the turtles 

 themselves, the flesh of which it scoops out with its paw from the shell. According 

 to Darwin, in similar districts its common prey is the capybara, and when 

 this animal is abundant, it seldom attacks any other. The mode of killing its 



