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第7章 太阳新阵容，多伦多造势

It is in the swampy forests of South America that the Jaguar commits his destructive ravages, which are spread over nearly the whole of that continent from Paraguay almost to the Isthmus of Darien. It has frequently been said that he is also to be found in Mexico; but this appears to be a mistake, originating probably in Buffon’s having confounded the Jaguar with the Ocelot, describing and figuring the latter under the name of the former, and intermingling with his description many of the peculiar traits of the real Jaguar derived from the relations of travellers. On the other hand he has erroneously figured the latter animal under the name of the Panther; a[45] mistake in which he has been followed by Pennant and others, and with which the writings of zoologists are more or less infected even up to the present day. What the Panther of the ancients actually was, or whether there exists any real difference between it and the Leopard, is a much disputed question, into which we have neither space nor inclination

mprehends those beautifully spotted, but ferocious, beasts. His fur, however, it must be remarked, has little of the sleekness which characterizes those[64] animals, but exhibits, on the contrary, a peculiar crispness which is not to be found in any other of the tribe.

uarter of a mile before he fell. There is no chance, they add, of killing him by a single shot, unless the ball goes directly through the brain; a single hunter runs consequently no little risk in venturing to attack an animal upon whom the most dangerous wounds, if not instantaneously fatal, produce no obvious immediate effects.

ing the outer coat, and swallowing only the internal nut.

ing to a new species, to be distinguished by the excessive shortness of that appendage, by the unusually pale colour of its markings, and by some slight peculiarities in the mode of their arrangement, which varies indeed in every individual that we have seen.

us and so essential, that it is difficult to conceive how they could have been so long overlooked by naturalists as well as travellers, who have all, until within little more than twenty years of the present time, passed him over without even a casual hint that he presented any claims to be considered as distinct from the common species of his country.

Cynocephalus Papio. Desm.

Equus Burchellii.

The animal in question, accurately represented in the portrait which is prefixed to the present article, was presented by the late Sir Ralph Woodford, governor of Trinidad, about six months since, under the name of the Peruvian Tiger; from which denomination we may presume that it was originally brought from that part of the continent of America. The species, however, is very widely spread, being found as well in Mexico, from the language of which country it derives its name, as in Paraguay. Its habits are similar to those of the other cats, keeping itself close in the depths of the forests[56] during the day, and prowling abroad at night in search of victims, which it finds in the smaller quadrupeds and birds. In the chase of the latter it is particularly successful, pursuing them even to their nests amid the trees, which it climbs with the greatest agility. It is easily tamed, but seldom loses all trace of its natural ferocity. D’Azara, however, speaks of one which was so completely domiciliated as to be le