10 
JAGUAR. 
Towards the west and southwest it extends to the mountainous country 
beyond El Paso. Harlan speaks of its being occasionally seen east of 
the Mississippi. This we think somewhat doubtful. It inhabits Mexico 
and is frequently met with in almost every part of Central America. 
Humboldt mentions having heard its constant nightly screams on the 
banks of the Oronoco. It is known to inhabit Paraguay and the Brazils, 
and may be regarded as the tiger of all the warmer parts of America, pro- 
ducing nearly as much terror in the minds of the feeble natives as does its 
congener, the royal tiger, in the East. It is not found in Oregon, and we 
have not met with any account of it as existing in California. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
Buffon, in describing the habits of the Jaguar, appears to have received 
his accounts of the timidity of this species from those who referred to the 
Ocelot, which is generally admitted to be a timid animal. He erroneously 
supposed that when full grown it did not exceed the size of an ordinary 
dog, in which he egregiously underrated its dimensions. It is certainly a 
third heavier than the Cougar, and is not only a more powerful, but a far 
more ferocious animal. This species exhibits some varieties, one of which, 
the black Jaguar, is so peculiar that it has been conjectured that it might 
be entitled to a distinct specific name. The exceeding rarity, however, of 
the animal, and the variations to which nearly all the species of this genus 
are subject, induce us to set it down as merely a variety. It must be 
observed that it is rare to find two specimens of uniform colour ; indeed 
the markings on each side of the same animal are seldom alike. Buffon 
(vol. v. p. 196, pi. 117-119) has given three figures of the Jaguar, the first 
and third of which we consider as the Ocelot, and the second as probably 
the Panther (F. Pardus) of the eastern continent. Hamilton Smith, in 
Griffith’s Cuvier (vol. ii. pp. 455, 456), has given us two figures of this 
species, differing considerably in colour and markings : the former is very 
characteristic. He has named this species Felis Jaguar, which is inadmis- 
sible. There is some resemblance in this species to the panther (F. Pardus ), 
as also to the leopard ( F . Leopardus ) of Africa, but they are now so well 
described as distinct species that it is scarcely necessary to point out the 
distinctive marks of each. Buffon’s panth&re femelle, pi. 12, and Shaw’s, 
Gen. Zool., Part I., pi. 84, evidently are figures of our Jaguar. 
