42 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
(being, like him, distinguished by the pencils of long 
hairs which surmount their ears), and to that which 
comprehends the domestic cat ; and are all of diminutive 
size and trifling power when compared with those mon- 
strous productions of the torrid zone, the Lion, the 
Tiger, and the Leopard. The reader is not, however, to 
imagine that the smaller species exist only in the vicinity 
of the pole and in the temperate regions of the earth: he 
will find, on the contrary, that many of them are natives 
of more southern climes, and commit their petty ravages 
under as fierce a sun as that which fires their more 
dreaded competitors in the career of rapine and of blood. 
Of one of these, the true Lynx of antiquity, we shall 
have occasion to treat in a subsequent article. 
But there is also a third class which springs into 
existence in the warmer climates of America, some of 
whose representatives almost equal the Tiger in magni- 
tude, in vigour, and in ferocity, while others rival the 
Leopard in the beauty and sleekness of their fur, and in 
the agility and gracefulness of their motions. Foremost 
of these, and holding the highest rank among the most 
formidable animals of the New World, stands the Jaguar, 
or, as he is sometimes called, the American Tiger. Supe- 
rior to the Leopard in size as well as in strength, he 
approaches very nearly in both respects to the Lionesses 
of the smaller breeds: he is, however, less elevated on 
his legs, and heavier and more clumsy in all his propor- 
tions. His head is larger and rounder than that of the 
Leopard ; and his tail is considerably shorter in propor- 
tion, being only of sufficient length to allow of its 
touching the ground when the animal is standing, while 
that of the Leopard, as we have before observed, is very 
