BLARINA. 57 
States species like B. cinereus, B. exilipes, and B. berlandiert, if really distinct ;” and 
in a subsequent letter to me he says that he suspects that intermediate links between 
. it and the more northern forms may yet be discovered. None such, however, are yet 
known, and in the meantime the validity of the species must be recognized. 
2. Blarina mexicana. 
Blarina mexicana, Baird, MS. 
Blarina (Soriciscus) mexicana, Coues, Bull. U.S. Geol. & Geogr. Surv. iii. p. 652 (1877, descr. 
orig.)*. 
Hab. Mexico, Jalapa (de Oca, U.S. Nat. Mus.*). 
Nothing is known of this Shrew beyond Dr. Coues’s description of his type. He 
remarks that the “species combines the dental characters of his subgenus Soriciscus 
with the external appearance of Blarina proper, “resembling B. talpoides in its 
uniform blackish colour, though it is still darker as well as much smaller”. 
Order IV. CARNIVORA. 
All the five New-World families of land Carnivora, Felide, Canidee, Procyonide, Mus- 
telide, and Urside, are found in Central America, although the latter only just crosses 
the northern boundary. The great majority of the genera are common to both the Neo- 
tropical and Nearctic Regions; but three (Nasua, Cercoleptes, and Galictis) belong 
essentially to the former, two (Mephitis and Taaidea) to the latter, while two others 
(Bassaris and Bassaricyon) are peculiar to the subregion. The species also are nearly 
evenly balanced between the two faunas ; so that in this order we have no such marked 
preponderance of Neotropical affinities as we have found in those hitherto under con- 
sideration. 
Fam. I. FELIDZ. 
1. FELIS. 
Felis, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 60 (1766). 
In the New World the almost cosmopolitan genus Felis is widely distributed 
throughout both the Neotropical and Nearctic Regions; but, with the exception of the 
Lynxes, the Cats are rather characteristic of the former than the latter, several of the 
species being peculiar to the southern fauna, while others only advance a short way 
beyond its northern boundary. The seven species which have been found in the 
Central-American subregion may be thus characterized :— 
BIOL. CENT.-AMER., Mamm. Vol. 1, Fed. 1880. I 
