Puma 397 



The puma is unknown in Alaska, but occasionally ranges as far north 

 as latitude 60° in the Stickeen district. More commonly, however, its 

 northern limit on the western side of the continent is approximately 

 formed by the 55th degree of latitude, or, roughly speaking, by the 

 northern boundary of British Columbia. From this point the northern 

 limit ot the species sweeps obliquely across the continent to Maine in 

 about latitude 45' or 46". Southwards, with the exception of a few small 

 areas, the distributional area extends uninterruptedly to the straits of 

 Magellan. No other American mammal has anything like this enormous 

 geographical range, so that the puma may be called, par excellence, the 

 characteristic American animal. With the exception of New Hampshire, 

 Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Michigan, Indiana, and possibly, 

 although not probably, Nevada, the species was formerly found throughout 

 the United States. From Ohio it was, however, exterminated as early as 

 the year 1834, and in more recent times it has disappeared from Illinois 

 and Minnesota ; the last individual having been killed in the latter 

 territory in 1875. A carnivorous animal of the size of the present species 

 is indeed bound to be exterminated with the advance of civilisation ; and 

 in the more cultivated and settled districts of the majority of the United 

 States it is probable that not even stragglers are now to be met with. In 

 the Rocky Mountains pumas ascend as high as the pasture-grounds ot the 

 wild bighorn sheep, and in California they have been observed at an 

 elevation of about 3000 feet above sea-level. In the Chilian Andes, 

 however, they are known to climb to much greater heights, evidences of 

 their presence at an elevation of at least 10,000 feet having been detected. 



Throughout the forest-clad districts of Central and South America the 

 puma still appears to be a comparatively common creature, although in 

 parts where the country is open its numbers have been greatly reduced. 

 Mr. Aplin,^ for instance, observes that in the State ot Uruguay it is 



^ Proceedings 'Zoologiciil Society of London, 1894. 



