CATS. 383 



One of the genera of the family, Agriochoerus, seems to be also 

 represented in the deposits of the Siwalik Hills. 



Carnivora, — The members of this order may be conveniently 

 classed under four primary groups, defined in their broadest sense 

 as the cats (^luroidea), dogs (Cynoidea), bears (Arctoidea). and 

 seals (Pinnipedia). The first of these embrace the cats proper (Fe- 

 lidaB), civets (Viverridse), the South African aard-wolf (Proteles 

 Lalandii), and the hyenas (Hyaanidss). 



The true cats, which by many authorities are considered to be 

 comprised within the single genus Felis, have an almost world-wide 

 distribution, but are most abundantly developed in regions of 

 elevated temperature. No species occurs in either the Australian 

 region or Madagascar. The better-known American forms are the 

 jaguar (F. onpa), whose range comprises the entire region included 

 between Patagonia and Texas; the cougar or puma (F. concolor), 

 with probably the most extended north and south range of any 

 mammalian species — Patagonia to the sixtieth parallel of north 

 latitude ; the ocelot (P. pardalis), which, in one or other of its 

 several varieties, ranges from Arkansas through Texas and Mexico _ 

 to Patagonia ; the nearly equally distributed margay (F. tigrina — 

 Mexico to Paraguay), and several allied species of small intertropical 

 "tiger-cats;" the jaguarundi (F. yaguarundi) and eyra (P. Eyra), 

 unspotted cats ranging from Paraguay to the northern boundary of 

 Mexico, the Chilian colocoUo (F. colocollo), the pampas-cat (F. 

 pajeros), and the lynx. The last, of which several species or varie- 

 ties have been described, in whole or in part identical with the 

 common European species (F. lyncus or rufa;, inhabits the greater 

 part of the American continent north of Mexico. 



Of the Old World cats, besides the lion and tiger, whose range 

 has been specially considered io the zoogeographical portion of this 

 work, the better-known forms are the Felis pardus, leopard or pan- 

 ther, which may represent several distinct species, inhabiting the 

 greater part of Africa and the warmer regions of Asia, from Pales- 

 tine to Japan ; the ounce or irbis (F. uncia), of about the size of, 

 and somewhat resembling, the leopard, a native of the elevated 

 mountain-tracts of Central Asia (Thibet — Siberia), where it ascends 

 to heights of from 15,000 to 18,000 feet; the spotted or clouded 

 tiger (F. macroscelis), an arboreal species, indigenous to the forest 

 regions of Southeast Asia and the adjoining islands of Formosa, 



