NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 



at the time of the first white traders. Possibly, too, the form 

 gregoryi was the wolf formerly found in the extreme western 

 part of the State. At all events, he quotes Benjamin C. Miles 

 that the small black wolf was exterminated about 1870 in 

 Haywood and Lauderdale Counties, while Major Shaw is au- 

 thority for the statement that it had been replaced in later 

 times by the larger and fiercer gray wolf. 



Family FELIDAE: Cats 



THE PUMAS 



The pumas, or mountain lions, are typically American and 

 constitute a single species having a wide latitudinal range from 

 the northern United States and southern Canada southward 

 in forested country to Patagonia. In South America they are 

 spoken of by people of Spanish descent as "leon" in contra- 

 distinction to the "tigre," or jaguar. Other names are 

 "puma," used in Peru, and "couguar, " said to be a corruption 

 of a Tupi word signifying an animal of the same color as a deer. 

 For pumas are associated with Seer, on several species of which 

 they prey in different parts of their vast range. In disposition, 

 these cats are not especially fierce in spite of many tales told by 

 frightened persons, and very seldom indeed do they attack 

 human beings. In South America they are not feared, the 

 jaguar being held in high respect. Slightly smaller than the 

 latter, the pumas are characterized by a uniform coloration of 

 tawny shades above, whitish lips and eye-stripes, and a black 

 spot on each side of the muzzle. With a total length of about 

 8 feet for an adult male, and a weight ranging up to some 200 

 pounds, there is a wide local variation in size, shade of color, 

 and in cranial details, which has led to the distinction by Nelson 

 and Goldman (1929), the last to review the matter, of no less 

 than 19 subspecies, of which 9 are South American, including 

 the typical race of southern Brazil, and 10 are found in North 

 and Central America. The tropical races tend to be smaller 

 and brighter in color, becoming a distinct reddish in tone. 

 The southernmost races are paler, the race pearsoni of Pata- 

 gonia being a silvery gray. In the United States, at the more 

 northerly part of their range, pumas may show two color 

 phases, a redder and a grayish brown, sometimes spoken of as 



