Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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(* Gmelin, In His Synonyma, Seems
To Confound This Animal, Under The Name Of Felis Discolor, With The
Great American Lion
(Felis concolor) which is very different from the
puma of the Andes of Quito.) This animal is celebrated for its
Strength and ferocity; it appears to be still larger than the common
jaguar. The black spots are scarcely visible on the dark-brown ground
of its skin. The Indians assert, that these tigers are very rare, that
they never mingle with the common jaguars, and that they form another
race. I believe that Prince Maximilian of Neuwied, who has enriched
American zoology by so many important observations, acquired the same
information farther to the south, in the hot part of Brazil. Albino
varieties of the jaguar have been seen in Paraguay: for the spots of
these animals, which may be called the beautiful panthers of America,
are sometimes so pale as to be scarcely distinguishable on a very
white ground. In the black jaguars, on the contrary, it is the colour
of the ground which renders the spots indistinct. It requires to
reside long in those countries, and to accompany the Indians of
Esmeralda in the perilous chase of the tiger, to decide with certainty
upon the varieties and the species. In all the mammiferae, and
particularly in the numerous family of the apes, we ought, I believe,
to fix our attention less on the transition from one colour to another
in individuals, than on their habit of separating themselves, and
forming distinct bands.
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