96 ORIGIN, ETC., OF THE FAUNA. 
names. Both Ocelots and Jaguars frequent the forested districts of South America, 
and pass through Central America into the United States north of Mexico. There is 
no doubt that the Jaguar is closely allied to the Leopards, and is the only American 
member of the genus which comprises also the Lion, Tiger, Leopard, and Ounce 
of the Old World. Ocelots, too, are not apparently generically separable from 
several of the Eastern Asiatic species, and there appears to be a form closely akin to 
them in tropical West Africa. 
Procyonide.—The five admitted American genera of this family occur in Central 
America, which in this respect is richer than either the northern or southern moieties 
of the New World. Procyon (Raccoon) has a range almost equal to that of the Puma 
in its extension from near the borders of Canada to Paraguay. Subspecies akin to 
the typical North American form (dotor) reach Southern Mexico; two species appear 
to be restricted respectively to Yucatan and Panama, while the Scuth American 
P. cancrivorus enters the latter State. A peculiar species of MNaswa (Coaiti Mondi) 
occurs on Cozumel Island, Yucatan, the rest of the Central American forms recorded 
from Mexico (Colima, Chihuahua), Yucatan, Guatemala, and Panama being regarded as 
subspecies of the South American WV. narica; Bassariscus (Cacomistl) ranges from 
Texas and Oregon through Mexico to Guatemala and Panama; Bassaricyon is 
represented by species from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and occurs as far 
south as Ecuador; while Potos, better known as Cercoleptes (Kinkajou), ranges 
from Mexico (Vera Cruz) Costa Rica, and Guatemala into Colombia, Ecuador, 
Venezuela, etc. 
In the Old World the family is represented by lurus (Panda) of the Eastern 
Himalayas and probably by luropus of Moupin in Eastern Tibet. The latter, 
however, is claimed by some authorities to be Ursine in its affinities. It shares the 
characters of the Urside and Procyonide, and may perhaps be regarded as the living 
link between the two families. 
Urside.—Bears akin to the North American Black Bear (Ursus (Euarctos) ameri- 
canus) extend into Mexico as far as Coahuila and Chihuahua. South of Mexico the 
family is unknown in Central America; but it reappears in the northern Andean 
district of South America, where a genus (Zremarctos), distinct from Ursus, is now 
found—and this genus, oddly enough, also appears to contain the Central Asiatic 
Black or Tibetan Bear, which ranges from Baluchistan through the Himalayas to 
Japan. 
The paleontological history of the families of Central American Carnivora need not 
be discussed in detail. The evidence, incomplete in details though it be, shows that 
they are without exception descended from northern forms that inhabited North America 
or Europe or both continents during Middle or early Tertiary times, the Canide dating 
back to the Upper Eocene, the Procyonide to the Lower Miocene in North America, 
the Urside to the European Upper Miocene where they apparently blend with the 
