MAMMALIA. 353 



or more from an elevation, and taking to trees and climb- 

 ing generally only when pressed. They prey upon various 

 animals, and have been known, though rarely, to attack 

 man. In southern Florida they swim from key to key 

 with perfect ease. The general color of the puma in best 

 condition is a rich mouse-gray with light beneath. The 

 jaguar is the American tiger, and differs from the puma 

 in being essentially arboreal. It ranges from Texas to 

 southern South America, and is the largest and hand- 

 somest cat in the Western Continent, attaining a total 

 length of over five feet, and is so powerful that it has 

 been known to kill a mustang, swim with it across a river, 

 dragging it into the bush beyond. The general color is 

 brownish yellow above, white beneath, with numerous dark- 

 er spots. The sides of the body are marked with a series 

 of irregular figures. They are accredited with wonderful 

 powers by Humboldt and other writers, in opening turtles 

 and catching fish with their powerful claws. The leopard 

 is perhaps the most beautifully marked of the family, and 

 ranges the jungles of Asia, Africa, and the Indian Archi- 

 pelago. The skin is richly marked with oval spots. The 

 black leopard * is singularly treacherous and utterly un- 

 tamable. The tiger f of India (Fig. 375), next to the lion, 

 is the most powerful of the cat tribe, majestic in appear- 

 ance, the type of agility, cunning, and ferocity. They are 

 as large as the lion, with a longer body and rounder head. 

 The color of the fur is a rich fawn above, striped and 

 barred irregularly with black, the under portion being 



* Albinos are found among all animals, a condition generally the 

 result of a lack of pigment. Its absence in the eye produces the so- 

 called "pink" eyes. Albinism, then, is not properly a disease, and in 

 no wise affects physical or mental vigor. The black leopard is a sub- 

 ject of melanism, owing to an over-supply of coloring-matter in the 

 cells. 



f The marks of the tiger, leopard, ocelot, and the color of the puma, 

 are all protective, and when crouching upon a limb or on the ground 

 help tc render them inconspicuous. 



