242 THE GEOGRAPHY OF MAMMALS 



of the Oriental Eegion and into the confines of the Palse- 

 arctic. The Leopard is met with throughout Western 

 Asia, Persia, the Indian Peninsula, including Ceylon, the 

 Siamese and Malay Peninsulas, China, and the larger 

 islands in the Indian Archipelago. It varies much through- 

 out its range, not only in size, but in shape and in the 

 character of its markings ; yet it is impossible to consider 

 more than one species of Leopard as satisfactorily estab- 

 lished. 



The fourth great Cat of the Old World, the Ounce 

 (Fells undo), distinguished at once from the Leopard by 

 its white body-colour, thick fur, and much lengthened tail, 

 is confined to the high ranges of Central Asia, and occurs 

 only at elevations of over 8000 feet. In Gilgit, Hunza, and 

 Tibet, it occurs occasionally within the range of the Indian 

 sportsman, but is more frequent further north, and in the 

 north-west ranges of Siberia and Amurland. 



After the four great Cats of the Old World, we must 

 proceed to discuss the corresponding animals of the New 

 World. These are two only in number, the Jaguar (F. 

 onca), and the Puma (F. concolor), both inferior in size 

 and organization to the Lion and Tiger, the places of 

 which they are generally supposed to take in the Western 

 Hemisphere. The Puma has a very wide distribution in 

 America, extending over the greater part of both North 

 and South America, from the most northern of the United 

 States and British Columbia down to Patagonia. In the 

 extent of its range from north to south, the Puma seems 

 to surpass every other carnivorous animal. 



The Jaguar has likewise a very wide distribution in 

 America, though it cannot rival the Puma in this respect. 

 Its northern limit in these days appears to be Louisiana, 



