. 
MAMMALIA—JAGUAR. 185 
THE JAGUAR? 

Wuicu is sometimes called the American tiger, is one of the most formida- 
ble animals of the New World. He is to be found in the southern division 
of America, from Paraguay to Guiana; but be does not appear to inhabit to 
the northward of the Isthmus of Darien. Even in the south the race is 
gradually growing more rare, in consequence of the double temptation to 
destroy him, which is offered by the desire of getting rid of a beast so 
destructive to the flocks, and by the high price which is obtained for 
his skin. 
More robust and more clumsy than the leopard, he is also much superior 
in size, as he often measures four or five feet from the nose to the root of 
the tail. His head is larger and rounder than the leopard’s, his limbs are 
shorter, and his tail is of such a length as only to allow the tip to trail on 
the ground when the animal stands erect. Above the line of the eyes, the 
profile is also more pro:ninent. 
“These differences cf form,’ says Mr Bennett, ‘are accompanied dy 
differences in color and markings equally decisive. The general appearance 
is, at the first glance, the same in both; but be -penroses of the leopard are 
scarcely more than half the size of those of .se jaguar, and they all enclose 
a space of cne uniform color, in which, unless in some rare and accidental 
instances, no central spots exist, while, in the latter animal, most of those 
which are arranged along the upper surface near the middle line of the back, 
are distinguished by one or two small black spots enclosed within their 
circuit. The middle line itself is occupied in the leopard by open roses, 
imtermixed with a few black spots of small size and roundish form; that of 


1 Felis onca, Lin. 
24 
