VOL. XI, PP. 47-51 MARCH 16, 1897 



PROCEEDINGS. 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



NOTES ON THE LYNXES OF EASTERN NORTH 



AMERICA, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO 



NEW SPECIES. 



BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



The genus Lynx, constituting a well marked group of cats with 

 many species in both North America and Eurasia, was divided 

 by Gray, in 1867,* into two subgenera, Lynx and Cervaria. The 

 division was made on wholly inadequate external characters, 

 but the great differences, both cranial and external, which are 

 now known to exist, fully warrant the recognition of Gray's two 

 groups. 



Mr. F. W. True, in 1887,t pointed out for the first time, I 

 believe, the more important cranial characters that separate 

 the members of the subgenera Lynx and Cervaria. Some Euro 

 pean authorities, however, lump together as mere races the very 

 different species of these two groups and will not even recognize 

 the genus Lynx itself as more than subgenerically distinct from 

 Felis. American mammalogists, on the other hand, agree in 

 considering Lynx quite worthy of full generic distinction. 



Genus LYNX Rafinesque. 



q_O I 1 22 1 1 



Dental formula i *, c T , pm , m = 28. Legs and arms long 

 o o 11 Z'Z 11 



and powerful ; body short ; whole build dog-like ; tail very short ; pelage 

 full ; a ruff of long hairs around throat ; ear with decided pencil of long 



*P. Z. S., 1867, p. 267. (The genus was called Lynchus by Gray.) 

 |Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1887, p. 8. 



10 BIOL. Soc. WASH., VOL. XI, 1897 (47) 



