146 Mearns A New Ocelot from T*exas. 



identical with the Felis pardalis of Linnaeus, which was based 

 primarily on the 'Cato-Pardus mexicanus' of Hernandez. 



Felis limitis sp. nov. 



RIO GRANDE OCELOT. 



Type adult male, No. fffff, U. S. National Museum, Biological Sur 

 vey Collection, taken at Brownsville, Texas, March 4, 1892, by Mr. F. 

 B. Armstrong. Original No. 102. 



Cha-meter*. Smaller and grayer than Fcl-ut pardnli* Linmeus, with 

 coloration less intense. Skull relatively broad; dentition weaker: in- 

 terpterygoid fossa wider and more quadrate: audital bulla 1 wider and 

 more inflated: post-orbital process more flattened and less depressed. 



Color. Winter pelage: Upperparts exquisitely lined and spotted with 

 black on a drab-gray ground. The ground color varies from whitish 

 drab-gray on the unenclosed areas to pale broccoli brown on those that 

 are enclosed or margined with black. The pattern is never exactly the 

 same on any two specimens, although the general effect is similar. 

 There is a distinct vertebral area marked with black, usually appearing 

 as a more or less broken or irregular line of black on the posterior three- 

 fifths, breaking up into parallel or divergent lines or spots anteriorly: 

 it is usually apparent from the occiput to the root of the tail, though 

 always an interrupted line. In places, especially on the rump, it often 

 becomes a single or double row of black spots, while anteriorly it may 

 change to parallel lines or elongated enclosures. On each side of the 

 vertebral line is a parallel series of enclosed or (occasionally) solid black 

 elongate areas, sometimes containing black spots. Succeeding these, 

 laterally, are series of elongate, partially or completely enclosed spots 

 or irregular bands of drab-gray having a trend downward and back 

 ward, and separated from one another by grayish-white areas, an 

 especially broad transverse one usually appearing behind the shoulder. 

 Upper side of neck with longitudinal black stripes enclosing drab-gray 

 areas anteriorly and usually open posteriorly. Upper side of head with 

 a broad black, usually interrupted line arising about ten millimeters 

 above the middle of the orbital ring and extending backward on either 

 side to opposite the middle of the ear; between these lateral bands are 

 several interrupted lines of spots, larger behind and breaking up into 

 small spots anteriorly. Eyelids blackish, bordered above and below by 

 whitish bands, succeeded by drab-gray. Side of head with two con 

 spicuous black longitudinal stripes, the iipper one commencing as a 

 black spot behind nostril, another in front of inner canthus and involv 

 ing upper and lower eyelids, extending thence to a point about thirty 

 millimeters below and behind the posterior root of the ear; lower stripe, 

 beginning behind whiskers and below middle of orbit, extends back 

 ward to behind ear, then transversely across under side of head, almost 

 joining the corresponding stripe of the opposite side. The space be 

 tween these black lines is white except anteriorly; that between the up- 



