THE PUMA. 



103 



more or less indistinctly until the animal has attained its full 

 dimensions, or possibly in some cases throughout life. Never- 

 theless, the term "spotted" cannot be applied to the Puma in 

 the same sense as to the Jaguar or Leopard. It is added that 

 in some instances Lions, which to the eye appear of a perfectly 

 uniform colour, come out spotted in photographs. 



Distribution. — America; from British Columbia and Maine 

 in the North to the Straits of Magellan in the south. 

 Stragglers may, however, occasionally range as far north as 

 the sixtieth parallel of latitude. In the Andes it is reported 

 to range as high as 9,000 feet above the sea-level. 



Regarding its distribution in North America, Mr. True 

 writes that "on the Atlantic coast the Puma has not apparently 

 been found in the States of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, 

 New Jersey, or Delaware. On our northern boundary I find 

 no mention of its having been found in Michigan or Indiana. 

 In Ohio it was extirpated prior to 1838, and probably more 

 recently in Illinois and Indiana. I find no record of its 

 occurrence in Nevada, but, as it has been found in the surround- 

 ing States, it seems improbable that it should be entirely 

 absent here. With these exceptions, there are recorded in- 

 stances, more or less numerous, of the occurrence of the Puma 

 in every State and Territory of the Union, dating from the 

 beginning of the century. Like many other large American 

 animals, however, the Puma has retired before the advance of 

 civilisation, and in many of the more thickly populated States 

 it is improbable that even stragglers could be found at the 

 present day." In Minnesota, according to Mr. Herrick, the 

 last Puma was killed in 1875. 



Over the greater part of South America there appears to be a 

 dearth of information as to the distribution of this animal. 

 Writing in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society" for 

 1894, Mr. Aplin observes that in Uruguay "the Puma is now 



