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Texas, and the adjoining southern United States. Hence it ranges throughout Central and South America down to the Rio Negro of Patagonia. As might, however, have been expected from its being essentially a forest-loving animal, the Jaguar does not occur on the western side of the Andes south of Ecuador.

Thus we may take it that of the six largest and finest carnivorous mammals of the existing creation, four are found in the Old Continent and two others, generally inferior in structure, in the New World. We need not here go at length into the distribution of the smaller cats, some forty or forty-five in number, as variously estimated. It is sufficient to say that those of the New World are specifically distinct from those of the Old, except in the case of the Lynxes, in which the differentiation of the Canada Lynx (F. canadensis) from F. lynx of the Palearctic Region is perhaps somewhat doubtful. The cats of the Ethiopian and Oriental Regions are also, as a rule, different, and many of them are restricted to comparatively narrow geographical limits.

The second genus of the Cat family (Felida) contains only the Hunting Leopard, Cynælurus jubatus, which has somewhat the same distribution as the Lion. It is found all over Africa, and extends throughout South-western Asia and Persia into Western India up to the confines of Bengal. Attention, however, should be directed to a supposed second species of this genus, the Woolly Cheetah (C. laniger), which has hitherto been only met with in some of the higher districts of the Cape Colony.

Next to the Cats we come to the Viverride, or Civets, a much more numerous group containing about seventy species, usually divided into about twenty-four genera.

In the New World the Viverride are entirely unrepresented, and, as a rule, may be said to belong to the tropical portions of the Ethiopian and Oriental Regions, being entirely absent in the Australian Region. It may also be again remarked that the Malagasy Sub-region is quite peculiar as regards its Viverrida, six wellmarked genera of this family being entirely restricted to that anomalous island, whilst the seventh, Viverricula, is probably only an introduction from the Oriental Region.

In the Palearctic Region the Viverrida are feebly represented by a few scattered species which have strayed from the south into its limits, such as the Common Genet (Genetta vulgaris) and the Ichneumon (Herpestes ichneumon), which are both met with in Southern Spain and Algeria. As a rule, again it may be said that the Ethiopian and Oriental Viverride are not only specifically but generically different. But one large genus, Herpestes, has its twenty species divided pretty equally between the two Regions, and the typical Civets, Viverra, are found both in Africa and India.

A third family of the Eluroid Carnivora has been necessarily formed for the reception of the Aard-Wolf (Proteles cristatus). This is a hyenoid form well distinguished by its extremely peculiar dentition. The AardWolf appears to be restricted to the southern and eastern portions of Africa, and constitutes one of the most characteristic forms of Ethiopian mammal-life.

Finally, closing the Eluroid series, we have the small family of Hyænas (Hyænida) containing three wellmarked species, which, taken on the whole, must be denominated Ethiopian, as they all three occur within

the limits of that Region, and two of them at the present epoch are restricted to it. But the Striped Hyæna (Hyæna striata) extends from North-east Africa through Arabia and Persia into Northern India, where it is common in the North-western and Central Provinces. It must therefore be registered as a common inhabitant of the Ethiopian and Oriental Regions.

SECTION III.-DISTRIBUTION OF THE DOG-LIKE

CARNIVORA

The Cynoid, or Dog-like Carnivora, consists only of the single family Canide. Of this the great mass of species (from thirty to forty in number) belongs to the true Dogs (Canis), which, as we shall see, are very widely distributed over the earth's surface, whilst the three remaining genera are isolated forms, each of one species only, and are restricted to narrow geographical limits.

The Dogs (Canis) are amongst the most hardy of known mammals, and are spread, as already stated, over the whole earth, being apparently adaptable to all the zones, whether tropical, temperate, or frigid. The anomalous island of Madagascar is the only land to which they have not penetrated, that is, if we allow the Dingo of Australia to be an indigenous and not an introduced species, which is a point open to question. In the Arctic Regions the Polar Fox (Canis lagopus) extends as far north as any other carnivorous mammal, except perhaps the Polar Bear, and is found far above the Arctic Circle in both the Old and the New World alike. On the other hand, in the extreme south of the New

World we find the Magellanic Dog (Canis magellanicus), which extends to the very farthest extremity of the American continent, while in Southern Africa the Blackbacked Jackal (C. mesomelas) is met with in the vicinity of Cape Town, and in Australia the Dingo, now only known. in a semi-domestic state, is found over the whole continent. But although, as we have shown, the genus Canis is so widely spread over all parts of the earth, the individual species are in some cases confined to restricted. areas. Many well-known members of the genus—such as the Wolf, the Common Fox, and the Jackal-have a very wide distribution. But other species of Dog have limited ranges, and not more than two or three of them are usually met with in exactly the same district. Examples of this restricted distribution are afforded by the Maned Wolf (Canis jubata) of Brazil and Argentina, by the Corsac (Canis corsac) of Central Asia, and by several of the African Fennecs. But as a rule it may be taken that the various species of Dogs are hardy animals with extended areas of distribution.

Besides the genus Canis, the Dog family contains three other well-marked genera, each embracing but one species. One of these, the Bush-dog (Icticyon venaticus), is found only in Brazil and British Guiana, the two others, the Hunting-dog (Lycaon pictus) and the Long-eared Fox (Otocyon megalotis) are both peculiar to the Ethiopian Region, where the Lycaon appears to have a considerable range from north to south, but Otocyon is only known from the Cape Colony.

SECTION IV.-DISTRIBUTION OF THE BEAR-LIKE

CARNIVORA

We now come to the third and last division of the terrestrial Carnivora, which consists of those allied to the Bears and therefore denominated Arctoid. This division embraces three families-the Urside, or Bears, which have a fairly wide distribution in both Hemispheres, the Procyonidæ, or Raccoons, which, with a single exception, are confined to the New World, and the Mustelidæ, or Weasels, which belong mostly to the Old World with a comparatively few representatives in the New World.

The Bears (Urside), which head the group, contain, after the Cats, the largest and most destructive of the carnivorous animals of the present day. There has been a tendency of late days, unnecessarily, as we think, to augment the specific forms of the true Bears (Ursus). The species, recognizable by obvious external characters, do not appear to exceed ten in number. Taken as a whole the genus Ursus presents some very interesting features in its distribution. Its generic area embraces the whole of the Palearctic and Nearctic Regions and extends into the northern confines of the Oriental. In the Ethiopian Region Ursus is entirely absent, and constitutes an important lipomorph. In the Neotropical Region it is represented by a single species, the Spectacled Bear (U. ornatus) of the Andes. In the extreme north of the globe the Polar Bear (U. maritimus) ranges round the Arctic Circle. The next northern species met with is the

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