THE MANED AGUARA. 943 
all the four feet sooty-black ; the hair is rather 
long and shaggy, on the throat and breast whitish, 
with an irregular sooty spot, beginning beneath the 
jaws and passing on each side towards the corners 
of the mouth ; from the occiput to the end of the 
shoulders runs a ridge of long coarse hair, the upper 
half of which is black; the tail, moderately hairy, 
is mixed, darkish on the upper surface, red and 
grizzly below and at the tip. The hair from the 
hips down the edge of the buttocks is four inches 
in length ; that on the belly is likewise long. The 
dentition, excepting the asserted want of a tubercu- 
lar, agrees with the other species of canide ; but is 
inferior in strength to that of true wolves; and the 
number of mamme are only six. The female resem- 
bles the male in every particular of colour. 
This species is not found north of the equinoctial 
lime, but resides chiefly in the swampy and more 
open regions of Paraguay and bushy plains of Cam- 
pos Geraes; its habits are solitary and nocturnal ; 
it swims with great facility, and hunts by the scent, 
feeding on small game, aquatic animals, &c. 
The Aguara guazu is not a dangerous animal, 
being much less daring than the wolves of the north ; 
it is harmless to cattle, and the opinion commonly 
held in Paraguay, that beef cannot be digested by 
its stomach, was in some measure verified by Dr 
Parlet, who found by experiments made upon a 
captive animal, that it rejected the raw flesh after 
deglutition, and only retained it when given boiled. 
Kind treatment to this individual did not produce 
