THE EDUCATIONAL HUMANE SOCIETY 



113 



scratches in dead earnest, and is off 

 like the wind, forever branded as a 

 vicious brute. Cat nature is nervous 

 and timid, but no cat ever attacks a 

 human being except through FEAR. 

 The reason for the fear may be genera- 

 tions back, but it is fear nevertheless, 

 and will only yield to constant, and 

 sometimes long continued kindness. 

 But Puss has a rich storehouse of love 

 in his makeup, and in his own fashion 

 will reward you generously for any love 

 and kindness you bestow upon him. 



The Ring-Tailed Racoons. 



BV R. \V. SCHUFKLDT, M. D., WASHINGTON, 

 D. C. 



Apart from general students of nat- 

 ural history and mammalogists in par- 

 ticular, there are but comparatively 

 very few people in either the Eastern 

 or Middle States who ever heard of 

 such an animal in this country's 

 fauna as a ring-tailed racoon. Person- 

 ally, I have known them a long time 

 from illustrations, printed descriptions 

 and so on, including museum speci- 

 mens, before I ever saw a live one. The 

 first of the latter that ever came under 

 my observation was about a year ago 

 when the National Zoological Park 

 acquired a fine living example of the 

 genus. So far as my knowledge carries 

 me, no photographs were ever made of 



A PET RING-TAIL. 



A RING-TAILED RACOON. 



The two photograps on this page are from life by 

 Dr. Shufeldt. 



it. which is far too frequently the case 

 in that institution, be the animals com- 

 mon or rare. There are several species, 

 and subspecies of these interesting mam- 

 mals known to science. We may say in 

 passing, however, that these 'coon-like 

 creatures are known by several vernacu- 

 lar names in various localities. The form 

 occurring through Oregon, I am told, is 

 known as the "coon-cat ;" in the south- 

 west, the subspecies there found is the 

 "miner's pet" or "mountain cat;" in 

 Mexico it is the "cacomixl." Ring- 

 tailed racoon is sort of a semi-scientific 

 rame for any member of the genus ir- 

 respective of the region in which it oc- 

 curs. 



Recently there came into my posses- 

 sion a living ring-tailed racoon. It is 

 also called "civet cat," and as a matter 

 of fact the earlier naturalists classed 

 these forms with the civets, but I am 

 of the opinion that if any such relation 

 exists it must be very remote. It 

 landed in my study in a commodious 

 and comfortable cage, where it re- 

 mained for four or five days, being fed 

 upon sliced up apples and raw meat. 

 What it enjoyed most, however, were 

 the big breast muscles (pectorales) of 



