A New Bassariscus from Lower California. 187 



lish ; and the fact that the characters of the specimen, both 

 external and cranial, agree with those of the northwest coast 

 animal, leaves little doubt as to the general locality whence the 

 animal came. 



Skulls of Bassariscus from Oregon and the coast region of 

 northern California differ from those of the Texas animal in 

 several respects, but the differences are not absolutely constant. 



The teeth average smaller, particularly the fourth upper pre- 

 molar, the crown of which is of the same length as the transverse 

 diameter of the crown of the first upper molar (measured from 

 the notch on the outer side). In Texas specimens the carnassial 

 is usually but not always considerably longer. 



In the Oregon animal the postpalatal notch cuts the plane of 

 the last molar, while in the Texas animal it falls short of this 

 plane. The inferior lip of the infraorbital foramen is slightly 

 cut away, so that the foramen may be seen when the skull is 

 looked at from below at right angle to the eye. In the Texas 

 animal the foramen cannot be seen from below, but is distinctly 

 visible from above, while in the Oregon animal it cannot be seen 

 at all from above. This seems like a trivial difference which no 

 one would expect to be constant, but as a matter of fact it is con 

 sistently constant in the four skulls of raptor examined. In the 

 Oregon animal the postorbital constriction is deeper and the in- 

 terorbital breadth somewhat less than in B. a. flavus. 



