Ir THE FATHER OF GAME 45 
believe an account in that quaint old sportsmen’s 
magazine, “The Cabinet of Natural History,” pub- 
lished in Philadelphia in 1830-31, of a deadly 
attack by a cougar upon a bear, the explanation 
is probably found in the fear of a mother that her 
kittens were in danger. 
Dr. Merriam concludes that in the Adirondacks 
the puma breeds only once in two years. If this 
be true, it is a striking example of one of nature’s 
limitations of these destructive beasts, which would 
seem, at first thought, to have a clear field for 
indefinite multiplication. But, though their food 
is ordinarily abundant, no active enemies are to 
be feared, and the climate holds no terrors, there 
are certain insidious foes that they are powerless 
to resist, in the form of parasites. To these, and 
especially to the internal sorts, the pumas, in com- 
mon with other cats, seem to be peculiarly lia- 
ble. Various nematodes (thread-worms), trematodes 
(flukes), and many kinds of tape-worms, are known 
to attack this family. Some of them grow in the 
stomach and bowels, until the animal perishes of 
exhaustion and starvation, while others penetrate 
the lungs or liver, or encyst themselves among the 
muscles, setting up there so fierce an inflammation 
as to cause death unless (as doubtless often hap- 
pens) the sufferer is sooner murdered by some 
savage rival. These parasites are taken into the 
system from the living animals upon which the 
cat feeds, especially from hares and other rodents. 
