DISTRIBUTION OF RACCOONS 
151 
Yet even those who do are at a loss to account for its presence 
in Australia. Professor Weber * favours a very early human 
introduction, even in Pliocene times. I myself have been 
unable to form a definite judgment on this subject. 
The origin of the Falkland island wolf is in so far a very 
much more difficult problem to solve, as none of the species 
of the dog- tribe living on the opposite mainland of South 
America are at all nearly related to it. Dr. Wallace'f and also 
Mr. Lydekker J express the opinion that the Falkland islands 
were evidently connected with the mainland at no distant date. 
Dr. Wallace believed that this wolf was closely allied to a 
Patagonian species. 
Later on (p. 430) I shall have some further remarks to 
make on this subject. I only mentioned these two instances 
of distribution to show the difficulties which we frequently 
have to contend with. 
The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is by no means a typical in¬ 
habitant of the prairie, still as it occurs here and there and 
is very characteristic of North America it may as well be 
mentioned here. By nature a forest animal, the raccoon, with 
its omnivorous propensities and great adaptability, easily ac¬ 
customs itself to the most diverse surroundings, and as a 
rule thrives and breeds well in confinement. It inhabits the 
whole of the United States and southern Canada and belongs 
to a family (Procyonidae) which is quite confined to North 
and South America, and always has been. We need not hesi¬ 
tate in this case in attributing its origin to America. The 
raccoon family has the same ancestors (the Early Tertiary 
Miacidae) as the dog family, according to Dr. Matthew, § one 
of the members of the former, Cercoleptes (Potos), being 
actually the nearest in its skeletal construction to the Eocene 
Miacidae. It has been stated by Dr. Matthew that the lower 
Miocene Phlaocyon from Colorado is approximately, though 
not exactly, ancestral to the raccoon; hut in view of the fact 
that both Dr. Ameghino and Dr. von Ihering || emphatically 
* Weber, M., “ Der Indo-australische Archipel,” p. 40. 
t Wallace, A. R., “ Geographical Distribution,” II., p. 49. 
f Lydekker, R., “ History of Mammals,” p. 140. 
§ Matthew, W. D., “ Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger,” p. 331. 
|| Ihering, H. von, “Stidamerik. Raubtiere,” pp. 159—160. 
