PUMA  , a name, probably of native origin, introduced into

European literature by the early Spanish writers on South America (as Garcilaso de la Vega and Hernandez) for one of the largest cats (Felis concolor) of the New World . It is generally called " couguar " by the French, " leon " by the Spanish Americans, and " panther " by the Anglo-American hunters of the United States (see CARNIVORA) . Though often spoken of as the American lion, chiefly on account of its colour, it rather resembles the leopard of the Old World in size and habits: usually measuring from nose to root of tail about 40 in., the tail being rather more than half that length . The head is small compared with that of other cats and has no mane . The ears are large and rounded . The tail is cylindrical, with some bushy elongation of the hairs near the end, but not forming a distinct tuft . The general colour of the upper parts and sides of the adult is a tawny yellowish brown, sometimes having a grey or silvery shade, but in some cases dark or inclining to red; and upon these and other differences, which are probably constant locally, a number of sub-species have been named . The lower parts, inner surface of the limbs, throat, chin and upper lip are dirty white; the outside of the ears, particularly at their base, and a patch on each side of the muzzle black; the end of the tail dusky . The young are, when first born, spotted with dusky brown and the tail ringed . These markings generally fade, and quite disappear before the animal becomes full grown . The puma has an exceedingly wide range of geographical distribution, extending over a hundred degrees of latitude, from Canada in the north to Patagonia in the south, and formerly was generally diffused in suitable localities from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, but the advances of civilization have curtailed the extent of the districts which it inhabits . In PUMP 645 do not so often occur in this form as do trachytes and rhyolites .

Pumices are most abundant and most typically

developed from acid rocks; for which reason they usually accompany obsidians, in fact in Lipari and elsewhere the base of a lava flow may be black obsidian while the upper portion is a snow white pumice . Small crystals of various minerals occur in many pumices; the commonest are felspar, augite, hornblende and zircon . If they are abundant they greatly diminish the economic value of the rock, as they are hard and wear down more slowly than the glassy material; consequently they produce scratches . The cavities of pumice are sometimes rounded, but may also be elongated or tubular owing to the flowing movement of the solidifying lava . The glass itself forms threads, fibres and thin partitions between the vesicles . Rhyolite and trachyte pumices are white, contain 6o to 75% of silica and the specific gravity of the glass is 2.3 to 2.4; andesite pumices are often yellow or brown; while pumiceous basalts, such as occur in the Sandwich Islands, are pitch black when perfectly fresh . Good pumice is found in Iceland, Hungary, Nevada, Teneriffe, New Zealand, Pantellaria and the Lipari Islands . The last-named are the chief sources of pumice for the arts and manufactures . At Campo Bianco in Lipari there is an extinct volcanic cone with a breached crater from which a dark stream of obsidian has flowed . For industrial purposes the best varieties are obtained from Monte Pelato and Monte Chirica . The pumice is extracted by means of shafts and tunnels driven through the soft incoherent stone . It is brought out in blocks of irregular shape and size and is trimmed into slabs and graded into several qualities before it is exported to Canneto, which is the centre of the pumice trade .

The workmen say that the good pumice occurs in beds or

veins, which are probably lava flows and are separated by valueless rock or by obsidian . The value depends entirely on the regularity, size and shape of the steam cavities and on the absence of minute crystals . From time immemorial the extraction and sale of pumice have been one of the principal sources of wealth to the inhabitants of this island . Ara inferior pumice, known in Lipari as Alessandrina, is used for smoothing oilcloth . Though all the Aeolian Isles are volcanic no pumice 1 is exported from any of the others . In Iceland, Teneriffe and Hungary pumice also occurs, but not in sufficient quantity orof such quality as to render it worth working on a large scale . It is estimated that in Lipari there are 170 pumice quarries (or mines) giving employment to 'zoo persons and producing 6000 tons of pumice per annum . The price varies with the quality: from 3 lire per too kilogrammes for the commonest sorts to 200 or 300 lire for the best pieces, the average being about 15 lire . Much pumice is also used nowadays in the form of a fine powder, produced by crushing the rock, and forms an ingredient of metal polishes and some kinds of soap . It is often confounded with diatom earth or tripoli powder, but can easily be recognized by the aid of the microscope or by simple chemical tests . Among the older volcanic rocks pumice occurs, but usually has its cavities filled up by deposits of secondary minerals introduced by percolating water; hence it is of no value for industrial purposes . Pumice, in minute fragments, has been shown to have an exceedingly wide distribution over the earth's surface at the present day .

It occurs in all the deposits which

cover the floor of the deepest portion of the oceans, and is especially abundant in the abysmal red clay . In some measure this pumice has been derived from submarine volcanic eruptions, but its presence is also accounted for by the fact that pumice will float on water for months, and is thus distributed over the sea by winds and currents . After a long time it becomes waterlogged and sinks to the bottom, where it gradually disintegrates and is incorporated in the muds and Oozes which are gathering there . After the great eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 banks of pumice covered the surface of the sea for many miles and rose in some cases for four or five ft. above the water level . In addition to this much finely broken pumice was thrown into the air to a great height and was borne away by the winds, ultimately settling down in the most distant parts of the continents and oceans . (J . S .