LEOPARD. 1 1 1 



SO that the markings are only visible on close inspection, 

 or in certain directions of hght. Azara mentions a 

 white jaguar ; but this was accidental. 



Mr. ^V^aterton, in his amusing Wanderuifjs, occa- 

 sionally mentions the jaguar^ as an animal which rather 

 flies before the face of man, than as being prone to at- 

 tack him. Alluding to one which approached their fire 

 when encamped on the banks of the Essequibo, our 

 eccentric traveller thus continues : — " AFhenever the 

 fire got low, the jaguar came a little nearer ; and when 

 the Indian renewed it_, he retired abruptly : sometimes 

 he would come within twenty yards j and then we had 

 a view of him, sitting on his hind legs like a dog : 

 sometimes he moved slowly to and fro ; and at other 

 times we could hear him mend his pace, as if im- 

 patient. At last the Indian, not relishing the idea of 

 having such company, set up a most tremendous yell. 

 The jaguar bounded off like a racehorse, and returned 

 no more. It appeared by the print of his feet, next 

 morning, that he was a full grown one."* This anecdote 

 sufficiently shows how much less ferocious is the jaguar, 

 when compared to the Asiatic tiger. 



Leopard, Cuvier. 



respects the animals differed. 



Tee Leopard. 



Felis Leopardus, H. Smith, in Griff. Cue. 

 {Fig. 13.) 



Although the names 

 of leopard and panther 

 have been long familiar 

 in common language, 

 and have conveyed the 

 ■ 'ea of two distinct 

 -pecies, yet it is per- 

 iectly clear that no sci- 

 entific writer of the last 

 generation either de- 

 scribed, or, indeed, ap- 

 peared toknow, in what 

 t seems that numerous 



Wanderings in South America, p.223. 



