PUMA. 397 



inferior size and power to its adversary, although what it lacks in power it makes 

 up in agility. 



The Guachos of South America are in the habit of capturing the jaguar with 

 the lasso ; and Mr. Hudson relates a curious instance of how one of these fierce 

 animals was absolutely paralysed with fear, induced by a party of hunters who 

 intended to capture it in this manner. These hunters had started the jaguar in an 

 outlying district of the pampas, and it had taken refuge in a dense clump of dry 

 reeds. " Though they could see it," writes Mr. Hudson, " it was impossible to throw 

 the lasso over its head, and after vainly trying to dislodge it, they at length set fixe 

 to the reeds.' Still it refused to stir, but lay with head erect, fiercely glaring at 

 them through the flames. Finally it disappeared from sight in the black smoke ; 

 and when the fire had burnt itself out, it was found dead and charred in the same 

 spot." Similarly, Livingstone relates how one of the harnessed antelopes of South 

 Africa will lie close among burning reeds until its horns and hair are singed ; both 

 these instances being examples of the paralysing effects of fear, analogous to that 

 which causes a w r olf when caught in a pit to lie perfectly still, even under the 

 infliction of severe blows, as if simulating death. 



Finally, it may be mentioned that, with the usual propensity for applying Old 

 World names to New World animals and places, the jaguar is commonly known to 

 the European inhabitants of South America as the tiger. 



THE PUMA (Felis concolor). 



As the jaguar in America usurps the name of the tiger, so its compatriot 

 the puma is generally known there either as the lion, or the panther, or, as corrupted, 

 j ></! liter. The animal is also known, more especially in works of natural history, 

 as the couguar or cougar, which was abbreviated by the French naturalist Buflbn 

 from the Brazilian cuguacu-ara or cuguacvMrasua. Puma appears to be the 

 native Peruvian name, and is the one usually adopted by English-speaking 

 zoologists. Next to the jaguar, the puma is the largest of the American cats ; and 

 it is the only large unspotted representative of the genus in the Western 

 Hemisphere. From its extensive geographical range, the puma, as Mr. F. W. True 

 well remarks, may be regarded as the most characteristic mammal of America. In 

 form, it is distinguished by the great relative length of the body, and the lithe 

 build. The general colour of its fur is a uniform tawny, passing into whitish on 

 the under-parts of the body ; but there is a darker streak running along the middle 

 of the back, and the extremity of the tail is dusky brown. The outer surfaces of 

 the ears are black, with a whitish area near the middle ; while the white upper lip 

 is characterised by the presence of a conspicuous black spot in the middle line. In 

 marked contrast to the black nostrils of the other large cats, those of the puma are 

 flesh-coloured. Such is the general coloration, but it has been observed that, at 

 least in North America, there is a seasonal variation in the colour of the fur, which 

 assumes in summer a redder, and in winter a greyer tint. There is, moreover, 

 considerable individual variation in this respect ; but it does not appear that there 

 is any constant difference dependent upon locality. Thus individuals of a yellowish- 

 grey and yellowish-brown colour are not uncommon, while much more rarely others 



