CARNARIA. CARNIVORA. 97 



fawn ground, but differs in the details of the spots, 

 in its more robust form, and in its superior size, 

 being sometimes found five feet in length, without 

 including that of the tail. He is spread over the 

 greater part of the southern continent, and is said 

 to be occasionally found in Mexico in the northern. 

 He is a fierce and formidable animal, having great 

 strength. He attacks the wild horses and oxen of 

 the savannahs, in the mode already described as 

 practised by the Lion. D'Azara relates that a Ja- 

 guar, having thus killed a horse, carried the carcass 

 about sixty paces to the bank of a broad river, swam 

 across with it, and then dragged it into a neighbour- 

 ing wood in the sight of a person set to watch his 

 motions. Like most of the Cats, except the Lion and 

 Tiger, the Jaguar is an expert climber : Humboldt 

 speaks of " his cry coming from the tops of the trees, 

 followed by the long sharp whistle of the monkeys, 

 which seemed to flee from the danger ;" and Sonnini 

 has seen the marks of his claws on the smooth and 

 branchless trunk of a tree forty feet high, of which, 

 though some slips were visible, he had succeeded in 

 reaching the top. 



The Leopard (F. Leopardus), and the Panther 

 (F. Pardus), seem to be two distinct species, the 

 former spread through Africa and South Asia, while 

 the latter inhabits Africa alone ; though naturalists 

 have great difficulty in defining their characters. 

 The Panther, however, is of larger size, and deeper 

 colour ; both, as has been observed, resemble in ap- 

 pearance the Jaguar. Accustomed to climb trees 



VOL. I. F 



