10 THE CAT 



in 1894. The name "snow-leopard" is often 

 applied to it. 



5. The PUMA (F. concolor) inhabits all of con- 

 tinental America from Hudson's Bay to the 

 Straits of Magellan a range more extensive 

 than that of any other cat. It is an adaptable 

 animal, and is equally at home in the cane- 

 brakes of the lower Mississippi, the jungle- 

 swamps of Brazil, or at altitudes of twelve 

 thousand feet in the Rockjr Mountains. In 

 North America they are usually gray in color, 

 and without spots when adult, though the cubs 

 are spotted like young lions and probably the 

 young of all the one-colored cats. In tropical 

 regions they show a disposition to rufous tints, 

 and skins from South America are sometimes 

 of a rich red tan. This species is known by 

 many vernacular names, "panther," "cou- 

 gar," "lion," and "mountain-lion" being 

 among them. The latter names appear to have 

 arisen from the fact that the early discoverers 

 of America took the puma to be a female lion 

 an animal which it resembles in a general 

 way, owing to its uniform color and the ab- 

 sence of a mane. 



