224 ANIMAL BIOLOGY 



puma formerly ranged over a larger part of temperate 

 North America, but in the United States it is now limited 

 to the west. Formerly it inspired much fear in the early 

 settlers who commonly called it the panther and related 

 many thrilling stories of its ferocity. As a rule, however, 

 it is exceedingly shy of man and is only rarely seen. The 

 somewhat larger South American jaguar ranges north 

 through Central America and Mexico into southern Texas. 

 While the cat family is exclusively carnivorous, the bears 

 and their smaller allies, the raccoons, will eat many other 



FIG. 176. African leopard. PIG. 177. A raccoon. (From 



Baker.) 



things besides flesh, such as nuts, berries, acorns and the 

 leaves of plants. The largest species of bear in the United 

 States, the grizzly, is now found only in a few remote 

 localities in the west. 



The animals of one division of the carnivora, the Pinni- 

 pedia, have taken to an aquatic life. These are the seals, 

 sea-lions and walruses. While resembling other carnivores 

 in fundamental features of structure, the pinnipeds have 

 undergone striking changes of external form in adaptation 

 to living in the water. The fore legs are modified into 



