isfactory is fig. 8 from Tro-Cortesianus 24d, at whose identity it
seems unsafe to hazard a guess. It is shown as eating the corn being
sowed by god D.

JAGUAR (_Felis hernandezi_; _F. h. goldmani_). Throughout its range, the
jaguar (Maya, _balam_ or _t[vs]akmul_) is the most dreaded of the
carnivorous mammals. It is, therefore, natural that the Mayas held it in
great awe and used it as a symbol of strength and courage. A few
characteristic figures are shown in Pl. 34, figs. 1-3; Pl. 35, figs.
5-14. The species represented is probably _Felis hernandezi_, the
Mexican race of jaguar, or one or the other of the more or less nominal
varieties named from Central America. The distinguishing mark of the
jaguar, in addition to the general form with the long tail, short ears
and claws, is the presence of the rosette-like spots. These are
variously conventionalized as solid black markings, as small circles, or
as a central spot ringed by a circle of dots (Pl. 35, fig. 12).
Frequently the solid black spots are used, either in a line down the
back and tail or scattered over the body. The tip of the tail is
characteristically black, and the teeth are often prominent. Such a
figure as this (Pl. 35, fig. 10) Stempell considers to be a water
opossum (_Chironectes_), for the reason that it is held by the goddess
from whose breast water is flowing. This can hardly be, however, for not
only are the markings unlike those of the water opossum, but the large
canine tooth indicates a large carnivore. Moreover, the water opossum is
a small animal, hardly as big as a rat, of shy and retiring habits, and
so is unlikely to figure in the drawings of the Mayas.

As for the significance of the jaguar in the life of the Mayas, it may
be said that this animal seems to have played a most prominent part. At
Chichen Itza, the building on top of the southern end of the eastern
wall of the Ball Court, usually called the Temple of the Tigers, has a
line of jaguars carved in stone as frieze around the outside of the
building, and in the Lower Chamber of the same structure, the figure of
a jaguar (Maudslay, III, Pl. 43) serves as an altar. The front legs and
the head of a jaguar often are seen as the support of a seat or altar on
which a god is represented as at Palenque in the Palace, House E
(Maudslay, IV, Pl. 44) and in the Temple of the Beau Relief (Holmes,
1895-1897, Pl. 20). Altar F at Copan (Pl. 35, fig. 7) shows the same
idea. The head of a puma or j