690 



CARNIVORES 



xxvii. 6- 



gocene. They are very successful carnivores, partly arboreal and hence 

 most common in tropical regions, where there are large forests. There 

 is much difference in detailed habits between the many species of the 

 family, but all are alike in bony structure. Numerous attempts have 

 been made to divide the group into genera and subgenera, but all may 

 reasonably be retained in a single genus Felis. Lions (F. led) have many 

 distinct races in Africa and Asia and are mainly terrestrial, hunting 



Fig. 462. Tiger, Felis. (From photographs.) 



in open country. Tigers (F. tigris) (Fig. 462) occur throughout Asia 

 to Siberia, are usually solitary, and often frequent damp places. They 

 also have many races, and in captivity lions and tigers can be crossed. 

 Other cats are mostly smaller and more fully arboreal than the lion 

 and tiger. The leopard (F. pardus) of Africa and Asia reaches 5 ft in 

 body length. Felis catus, the wild cat, formerly common, still exists in 

 Britain and has a Palearctic distribution. The domestic cat probably 

 arose in Egypt from the caffre cat, F. ocreata. The jaguar (F. ofica), 

 puma (F. cougar), and ocelot (F. pardalis) are large Central and North 

 American cats, which have recently invaded South America. 



Felis is thus one of the most widespread of all mammalian genera, 

 occurring in all main parts except Australasia, Madagascar, and 

 oceanic islands. Because of their striking and familiar characteristics 

 we can form a vivid picture of all these slightly different sorts of cat, 

 pursuing varying prey in the different regions. In order to visualize 

 past evolution properly we should need to have an equally detailed 

 knowledge of past populations. It is difficult enough to classify and 

 describe a modern population of this sort and we need not be sur- 



