GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MAMMALS 243 



horses, and others have come, all being the result of care- 

 ful and intelligent selection and breeding. America, iso- 

 lated from Asia and Africa, has a fauna peculiarly its own. 

 Here the first white man found the American bison, a 

 splendid animal that constituted the food, shelter, and 

 raiment of many native tribes. Only a few years ago it 

 ranged from the Rocky Mountains to Washington and 

 doubtless to the Atlantic, and from the far North to Texas 

 and the Rio Grande ; but in a few years it has been wiped 

 out by the whites, a few specimens only being left to tell 

 the story. Here are found the mountain goat and the 

 mountain sheep, peculiar to this continent, doomed to 

 extinction ; also the pronghorn, which once thronged the 

 Western plains in vast bands, with the elk, blacktail, 

 whitetail, and mule deer. These animals lived together 

 in early days and thousands could be seen covering the 

 land as far as the eye could see. 



Certain bears, as the grizzly, black, brown, and several 

 species, are peculiar to North America, and many small 

 animals too numerous to enumerate. One of the most 

 interesting forms from its wide geographical distribution 

 is the mountain lion of California, that ranges from Cape 

 Horn to Canada and from California to Florida, appearing 

 under a variety of names in the several localities. 



Australia is an interesting region, due to its extraordi- 

 nary mammals. Here is apparently the home of the lowest 

 forms of the Mammalia, the interesting echidna, and the 

 duck mole, which really lays eggs and has so many seem- 

 ing affinities with reptiles. Australia appears to have 

 been long isolated from the rest of the world. Here are 

 found all the marsupials or pouched animals with one 



