LYNXES. 101 



butli, and Blyth thinks that ho clearly distinguishes between them.* It is cither found also in 

 Africa, or rc'ijresented there bj' an almost identical species (Felis c;uttata), which is found in 

 Abyssinia and Senegal, and to the south of both. 



It has been made into a separate genus under the name of Cynailvrus. 



Smaller Cats, — Ocelots, Serval, Lynxes, &c. The smaller Cats are nearly equally distributed 

 between Southern Asia and South America. In the former they assume much of the appearance 

 of the common domestic Cat, which probably took its origin in Nepaul, and are doubtless the 

 relations of the Leopard, while the Ocelots are equally clearly connected with the Jaguar. The 

 Ocelots are all from trojiical America, some species reaching as far north as Texas. The Cats, with 

 the exception of the Serval, which is found in Africa, are from trojjical Asia, extending through 

 the islands of the Malayan Archijjelago as far as Timor. 



Remains of some species about the size of the Panther have been found in the miocene and 

 pliocene beds of Europe. 



Lynx. The Lynxes are, with three or four North American exceptions, all Old-world sjDecies. 

 There are three European species ; the more common of which is found in all the northern 

 parts of the Old World ; and there is diflFercnce of oinnion as to whether the European species is 

 the same as the Canadian or not, and to which the latter should be referred, supposing it to be the 

 same as one of them. Thunborg's Scandinavian species, F. borealis, has been thought to be it, but 

 the preponderance of opinions seems opposed to this. If it is the same as any, it is with F. cervaria, 

 the larger and not the commonest, that it shoidd be amalgamated. In the time of the Romans 

 the Lynx appears to have been tolerably frequent in France, whence considerable numbers were 

 brought for the games of the Circus at Rome. Nowadaj's it is very rare, if not extinct there ; 

 it is said, indeed, that it may still be met -ndth in the Alps and the Pyrenees, whence it some- 

 times descends- into the southern departments of France. It likewise occurs in Spain, but is 

 commoner in Germany, and still more so in the countries of the north, where its fur forms an 

 article of commerce. It also inhabits the forests of Caucasus and Asia. The third and rarer species 

 (F. pardina) is found in the warmer countries of Europe, such as Portugal, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, 

 Turkey, &c. 



There are four species of Lynx in North America. The large Lynx Canadensis ranges across 

 the whole of the north of that continent ; then a smaller species, the Bay Lynx (L. rufus) stretches 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, throughout nearly the whole latitude of the United States, and is re- 

 placed in Oregon and Washington territory by the Red Cat (L. fascl^tus) ; a more southerly band 

 of territory, reaching from Texas to Southern California, is inhabited by another species, the Texas 

 Wild Cat (L. maculatus), which however may prove to be only a variety of the Bay Lynx. No 

 lynx has been found in South America. 



The Caracal and the Chaus are found in South Asia and xVfrica. Two species, F. ^LVN^L 

 and F. isabellina, inhabit Thibet. 



Hyenas. (Maps 17 and 18.) As the Hyaena has points of resemblance both with the Dogs and 

 the Cats they were for long bandied about from the one to the other, but Mr. AVaterhouse's 

 determination, by which he places them next the Civet Cats, is that most generally adopted. 



Like the other carnivores, the Hyaena, although now confined to the warm regions of Africa and 



* Blyth on Asiatic Fclidae, in " Proc. Zuol. Soc," 1803, p. 182. 



