VOL. XI, PP. 219-220 JULY 15, 1897 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW PUMAS FROM THE 

 NORTHWESTERN UNITED STATES. 



BY C. HART MERRIAM. 



Felis hippolestes sp. nov. 



Type from Wind River Mts., Wyoming (near head of Big Wind River). 

 No. 57936, c? old. U. S. Nat. Mus., Biological Survey Coll. Collected 

 in November, 1892, by John Burlingham. 



General characters. Size enormous; color reddish brown; skull and 

 teeth large and massive ; frontal region elevated ; upper carnassial with 

 well developed inner cusp. 



Color. Upper parts dull pale rufous brown, darkest along middle of 

 back and on tail ; tip of tail black ; nose to eyes grayish brown ; a pale 

 patch over each eye ; outer sides of legs and feet pale dull grayish ful 

 vous ; back of ears blackish ; chin, lips (except dark patch at base of 

 whiskers), throat, breast, under side of fore legs, inguinal region, and 

 hinder part of belly soiled white ; under side of tail grayish white. 



Cranial and dental characters. Contrasted with skulls of Felis concolor 

 from Patagonia and Costa Rica, the skull of F. hippolestes differs in very 

 much larger size (basal length 178, instead of 160 or less ; zygomatic 

 breadth 160, instead of 135 or less) ; frontal much more elevated and 

 swollen ; postorbital processes broader, shorter, more swollen, and more 

 decurved ;* nasals more angular (deflexed) with a pit in frontals over their 

 apex ; teeth uniformly larger ; upper carnassial with well developed inner 

 cusp ; lower premolars much more swollen. 



Measurements (from well made skin). Total length, 2600 ; tail vertebrae, 

 930; hind foot, 270. Cranial measurements : basal length, 178; zygomatic 

 breadth, 160; palatal length (from gnathion), 93; postpalatal length 

 (basion to postpalatal notch), 98 ; occipito-sphenoid length, 65 ; breadth 

 across postorbital processes, 84 ; interorbital breadth, 49. 



* In F. concolor of corresponding age (rather old) from Pacuare, Costa 

 Rica, the frontals are flat, with relatively long, slender, and only slightly 

 decurved postorbital processes. 



50-Bioi-. Soc. WASH., VOL. XI, 1897 (219) 



