JAGUAR. 
395 
considerable amount of individual variation in the general colour, and also in the 
arrangement of the spots. Examples from the more southern portions of the 
animal’s range are stated to tend to a more yellow hue, sometimes becoming almost 
white; while in the region of the Orinoco there is, according to Humboldt, a darker 
variety, in which the dark brown fur is marked with scarcely distinguishable black 
spots, and some individuals are completely black. A variety from Mexico is 
characterised by the distance at which the small spots which ordinarily constitute 
the rings are placed from one another, so that complete rings or rosettes of spots 
only occasionally occur. 
The skull may be distinguished at a glance from that of any of the other large 
cats by the presence of a well-marked tubercle near the middle of the inner side of 
the socket of the eye or orbit. The total average length of the jaguar may be set 
down at about 6 feet 2 inches, of which the tail occupies 2 feet 1 inch, equal to about a 
third the length of the head and body. A large example measured by the naturalist 
Azara had, however, a total length of 6 feet 9 inches, of which the tail occupied 
2 feet 2 inches; while a still larger specimen is said to have measured upwards of 
5 feet from the tip of tbnose to the root of the tail. The range of the jaguar 
embraces the whole of the country lying between the north of Mexico and Texas 
and the northern parts of Patagonia; its southern limit coinciding approximately 
with the fortieth parallel of south latitude. 
The jaguar is one of the most expert climbers among the larger cats; and it is 
stated by Humboldt, on the authority of the natives, that in certain districts of 
South America, where the forests are subject to inundation, and the trees stand so 
thickly that the passage from one to another is perfectly easy, the jaguar will 
sometimes take to an arboreal life, preying upon the troops of monkeys that 
inhabit the forests. All writers are agreed as to its ferocious nature and likewise 
as to its noisiness, Humboldt speaking very feelingly as to the loudness and fre¬ 
quency of its cries; but there is no record of its having attacked human beings 
without provocation. 
Darwin states that in the forest districts of South America its favourite 
haunts are the wooded banks of rivers and the reed-clad margins of lakes. And it 
appears that in general the neighbourhood of water is as essential to its well-being 
as it is to that of the tiger. But in the pampas of Argentina the jaguar inhabits 
a district where water is scarce, and where trees are practically unknown; and it 
is, evidently capable of modifying its habits to a considerable extent in accordance 
with its surroundings. Writing of its occurrence in the pampas, Mr. W. H. 
Hudson, in his charming work, The Naturalist in Lai Plata, observes that prob¬ 
ably only an extreme abundance of Mammalian prey, which has not existed in 
recent times, could have tempted an animal of the habits of the jaguar to 
colonise this cold, treeless, and comparatively waterless desert. 
In the well-watered districts it is stated that the jaguar will sometimes prey 
to a considerable extent upon fish; and Humboldt relates that it is partial to the 
eggs of the turtles which are so abundant on the Orinoco, and even to the turtles 
themselves, the flesh of which it scoops out with its paw from the shell. According 
to Darwin, in similar districts its common prey is the capybara, and when 
this animal is abundant, it seldom attacks any other. The mode of killing its 
