756 A Monograph of the Species of Lynx. [No. 128. 



son's Bay Company ship their furs from their factory at York Fort, and 

 from Moose River on Hudson's Bay ; their collection from Grand River, 

 &c, they ship for Canada; and the collection from Columbia River goes 

 to London." This wholesale destruction of the fur-bearing animals, 

 and alleged destination of their spoils, seem hardly reconcilable with the 

 opinion that any large species could still remain unknown to European 

 naturalists; and if additional species of the present group existed, especial- 

 ly about the Columbia River, there is certainly no accounting for the total 

 absence of their reliques from among the prodigious multitudes of Lynx 

 skins, from nearly all parts of North America westward of the Rocky 

 Mountains, which find their way to London, and have been diligently 

 examined by myself and others in the store-rooms where (together with 

 other kinds of peltry) they are exhibited previously to each half-yearly 

 sale by the Hudson's Bay Company. From what enquiries I have been 

 able to make of persons who have traversed the western territory of 

 North America, the two well-known species already described appear to 

 be generally recognised as the " Wild Cat" and the " Mountain Cat" or 

 " Catamountain" ; and to these, I think, most of the notices of authors 

 may be satisfactorily referred, making some allowance for vagueness 

 in descriptions from memory, or which, perhaps, in some instances, 

 have been given at second-hand. In Brickell's ' History of Carolina' 

 (a. d. 1737, p. 107), a rude figure is published of the " Mountain Cat," 

 though, at the same time, the least bad one in the plate, representing a 

 streaked animal, but which cannot be intended for the Bay Lynx, 

 or common American " wild Cat," as this is separately described by 

 him. It is possible, however, that the Arctic or mountain species is 

 intended, having been designed, perhaps, from mere hear- say. Carver, 

 also, in his Travels (p. 445), mentions the "Cat of the mountain," in ad- 

 dition to the " wild Cat," as being " much larger than a [domestic ?] 

 Cat, with similar fur, but differing in colour, this being of a reddish or 

 orange cast, becoming lighter on the belly. The whole skin is beauti- 

 fully marked with black spots of different figures, of which those on the 

 back are long, and those on the lower parts round. This creature 

 is nearly as fierce as a Leopard, but will seldom attack a man." In this 

 instance, I am of opinion that the term " wild Cat" refers to the Arctic 

 Lynx, and " Cat of the mountain" to the Bay Lynx. Professor Nuttall, 

 in his u Travels in the Arkansas Territory' (p. 118), notices " wild Cats 



