190 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1896. 



of Florida shows a great similarity, the former averaging darker 

 and smaller but the variation is perhaps too slight to warrant recog- 

 nition. On the other hand, the Tennessee form represents the max- 

 imum development of gossypin.us, combined with a light coloration 

 which together render it easily distinguishable as a subspecies. 



The relation of eastern gossypinus to leucopus has been a question 

 frequently discussed by mammalogists, but the lack of good material 

 from regions intermediate between N. Carolina and Florida has 

 prevented any final determination. I had hoped to obtain the de- 

 sired series from the regions in question in order to intelligently dis- 

 cuss the matter now brought forward in West Tennessee, but a cor- 

 respondence with our more prominent collectors of eastern mam- 

 mals, including Messrs. Miller, Bangs and Brimley, shows that we 

 are but little better off in this regard than thirty years ago, unless 

 collections of the U. S. Dep. of Agriculture contain such series. I 

 am, therefore, only able to predict, on the basis of the relationships 

 of gossypinus and leucopus of the lower Mississippi Valley, that they 

 will prove to be as distinct species in the east as in the west. In 

 this connection the cognahis of Leconte again intrudes itself Le- 

 conte states Georgia and South Carolina to be the type localities of 

 this species. Dr. Coues declares^ that " three dried specimens, 

 labelled ' eognatus ' in what we presume to be Major Leconte's own 

 handwriting, as it is the same as that upon his other types now in 

 our possession," should be considered the types of eognatus. One 

 of these, from Illinois, Dr. Coues says is " H. michiganeusis pure 

 and simple ! " and adds, " The other two, Nos. 4,708, 4,709 are not 

 marked for locality but probably came from Ohio, Wisconsin or 

 Michigan, and are really his types ! " It is very difficult to reconcile 

 this statement with Leconte's assertion that eognatus is a native of 

 Georgia, and if these two specimens really are original types of 

 eognatus, it is far more reasonable to assign them to Georgia or 

 South Carolina. On this basis, Dr. Coues' diagnosis of" Nos. 4,708, 

 4,709," viz., that " They are exactly the size of ordinary leucopus, 

 the tail a little shorter, relatively, than the average of leucopus, but 

 not shorter than is often found in leucopus, and they are colored 

 exactly as in gossypinus, the upper parts being very dark, the under 

 impure white, and the tail indistinctly bicolor," strongly points to 

 the conclusion which Prof Baird and Dr. J. A. Allen have ad- 

 vanced, that eognatus is a synonym of gossypinus, based, I might 



* Mon. N. A. Eodentia, pp. 77, 78. 



