26 Lloyd's natural tfisTOtfY. 



India; and his suggestion is supported by the well-known in 

 tolerance displayed by this animal to the fierce rays of an 

 Indian sun. It is therefore quite probable that this Cat may 

 be an immigrant from the west or north ; and if Siberia, where 

 it now exists, should prove to have been its original home, 

 what becomes of the theory as to the adaptive harmony ex- 

 isting between its dark and light stripes, and the dark streaks 

 of vertical light and shade in an Indian jungle? 



Leaving the subject of their coloration in this somewhat 

 unsatisfactory state, we pass on to the consideration of the 

 geographical distribution of the Cats. Although the Tiger 

 now inhabits Siberia and Amurland, while its fossilised re- 

 mains have been found on an island still farther north and 

 well within the Arctic Circle, and the Ounce is an inhabitant 

 of the cold plateau of Tibet, yet at the present day the Cats, 

 as a whole, attain their greatest numerical development in the 

 warmer regions of the globe. Indeed, while they are repre- 

 sented in almost all the hottest parts of the world, they have 

 no representatives in thj extreme northern countries inhabited 

 by the Arctic Fox and the Polar Bear. With the exception of 

 the Tiger, the larger members of the Family are, in fact, now 

 for the most part denizens of tropical and sub-tropical regions, 

 although the range of the Puma extends southwards to the 

 cold wastes of Patagonia, and northwards to British Columbia 

 and Maine. It is true, indeed, that the Lion, as represented 

 by the so-called Felis spe/cea, ranged during the Pleistocene 

 period in Western Europe as far north as England, yet we 

 know too little of the climate of that period to draw any 

 inferences from this former more extended distribution. 



With the exception of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, 

 perhaps Celebes, Madagascar, the West India Islands (save 

 Trinidad, which may be reckoned as part of South America), 

 and the circumpolar regions, the Cats have a practically 



