The Puma 295 



of the individual and his race; and as this process was 

 necessarily accompanied by corresponding movements, 

 when the strings of a guitar aroused him suddenly, Gato 

 involuntarily assumed the attitudes and exhibited the 

 temper of an excited beast of prey. If startled, teased, 

 or menaced, if impatient, angry, or even pleased, however 

 different may have been the passing feeling, however 

 variously it was expressed, his character always over- 

 shadowed him, and gave an air to every outward act ; 

 not always in those set forms which Camper, Le Brun, 

 Bell, and Darwin set forth, but unmistakably, and, of 

 course, by the same means through which the typical 

 representations of passion take place. 



That sedateness and inertia which, in Felidci especially, 

 soon supervene upon the restlessness of kittenhood, 

 showed themselves in Gato at an earlier period than 

 usual. This was in a great degree attributable to his 

 rapid and enormous growth. The energy which under 

 ordinary physiological conditions would have remained 

 free to manifest itself in movement, was expended in 

 building his frame. 



Many times on looking up and meeting Gato's gaze as 

 he lay upon a rug contemplating his friend, the expression 

 of those fiery eyes suggested stories of fascination — Arab 

 legends, African and Hindu superstitions about the mes- 

 meric power possessed by tigers and lions. A good deal 

 has been written on this subject which is not much to the 

 purpose. But no one has shown, or can show, that this 

 influence is impossible, or, as it suggested itself to the 

 author in the course of some experiments upon his puma, 



