Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/126

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110 L Y O L Y in cave deposits of Pleistocene age); F. cervaria, Siberia; F. pardina, Turkey, Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain ; and F. isabellina, Tibet. The American varieties are F. canadcnsis, the most northern species, and F. rnfa, the European Lynx. From a Drawing by Wolf in Elliot s Monograph of the J? elid&. American wild cat or bay lynx, extensively distributed from the Atlantic to the Pacific throughout nearly the whole latitude of the United States, but replaced in Texas and southern California by F. maculata, and in northern Oregon and Washington territory by F. fasciaia. In both cases, as might be supposed, specimens obtained from the more southern climates are shorter in their fur, more brightly coloured, and more distinctly spotted than those from colder regions. When only a few individuals of each most markedly different form are examined the distinctions are sufficiently evident. The occurrence, however, of transitional or intermediate forms makes it extremely difficult to draw the line between the different varieties or species, or to assign definite characters by which they can be separated. Wherefore it is best at present to accept the so-called species as only provisional, and wait until more abundant materials, with fuller knowledge of the localities from which they are derived, and of the variations due to age, sex, season, and climate, have been more carefully studied. We shall then probably come to the conclusion that all the existing forms of northern lynxes, whether American or Eurasian, belong to what may fairly be called a species, which is becoming by degrees differentiated into several more or less strongly marked local varieties. (w. II. F.) LYONS (French, Lyon], in political, commercial, in dustrial, and military importance, as well as in point of size, the second city of France, formerly the capital of Lyonnais, and now the chief town of the department of Rhone, seat of a court of appeal and of a military govern ment, and a fortified place, is situated at the confluence of the Ilhone and the Saone, in 45 46 N. lat. and 4 49 19" E. long., at an altitude above the sea varying from 540 to rather more than 1000 feet. The population of the city and liberties in 1876 was 342,815. The rivers, both flow ing south, are separated by the hill of Croix-Rousse. On the right the Saone is bordered by the scarped heights of Fourvieres, St Irenee, and Ste Foy, leaving room only for the quays and one or two narrow streets ; this is the oldest part of the city. Where it enters Lyons the Saone has on its right the faubourg of Vaise and on its left that of Serin, whence the ascent is made to the top of the hill of Croix-Rousse. The river next takes a semicircular sweep around the hill of Fourvieres (410 feet above it), which is fully occupied by convents, hospitals, and seminaries, and has at its summit the famous church, the resort of 1,500,000 pilgrims annually. From this point the best view of the entire city is obtained. First the busy Saone is seen with its thirteen bridges and animated quays. Next, on the peninsula between the two rivers at the foot of the hill of Croix-Rousse, come the principal quarters of Plan of Lyons. Pont St Clair. Punt Morand. Pont du College. Pont Lafayette. Pont de 1 Hotel Dieu. Pont de la Guillotiere. I Ponts Napoleon. Pont du Mnlatiere. Pont d Ainay. Pont St Georges Pont Tilsitt. Pont du Palais do Justice. Pont Nemours. Pont de Serin. Pont du Port Monton. Pont de la Gare. Jardin des Plantcs. St Polycarpe. Condition des Soies. La Martiniere. Opera House. Hotel de Ville. Palais des Arts. Lycde. Bourse. Protestant Church. Notre Dame de Four- vicres. Palnis <le Justice. St John s Chm-ch. Hospice de 1 Anti- quaille. Jewish Synagogue. Hotel Dieu. Hospice de la Charite*. Egiise d Ainay. Great Seminary. St Just. St Ire n(5e. Arsenal. the town : the Terreaux, containing the hotel de ville, the prefecture, and the chief commercial establishments ; Bellccour with its large open square, one of the finest in Europe ; and the aristocratic Quartier de Perrache. The Rhone and Saone formerly met here, till, a hundred years ago, the sculptor Perrache reclaimed from the rivers the quarter which bears his name; on the peninsula thus formed stands the principal railway station. Here too are the docks of the Saone, factories, the arsenal, gas-works,

prisons, and the slaughter-house.