494 NASUA. 



The Coatis are chiefly arboreal in their habits, and are remarkable 

 for the lengthened, flexible nose, which is capable of movement in 

 almost any direction, and also of being made perfectly rigid at the 

 will of the animal. Three species and six subspecies only are known, 

 resembling each other somewhat in the color of their coat, which is, 

 however, even in individuals of the same species, liable to assume a 

 great variety of hues wholly independent of age or sex, and which 

 range from a reddish brown and orange to pale brown. Like the 

 other members of the family, the Coati-Mundis, as they are some- 

 times called, are omnivorous, and eat birds, mammals, insects, fruit, 

 or in fact almost anything they can get. They go in small bands of 

 a dozen or more, but sometimes an old male may be seen by himself, 

 if it is not in the pairing season; but females are never found alone. 

 It is an inquisitive animal and pries with its long nose or claws into 

 everything that attracts its attention, and like the coon, is very 

 mischievous and always busy and restless. The long tail, though 

 not prehensile, is sometimes used to draw objects within reach of its 

 paws. The various species range over a great extent of country, and 

 are found from Mexico to Paraguay in South America, and from the 

 Atlantic Coast to the Andean range. 



94. Nasua. Coatis. 



J. A. Allen. On the genus Nasua Storr, Bull. U. S. Geogr. & Geol. 

 Surv. Terr., v, 1879, p. 153. 



Nasua Storr, Prodr. Meth. Mamm., 1780, p. 35. Type Viverra 

 nasua Linnaeus. 



Nose lengthened, snout truncate, upturned; body long, com- 

 pressed; tail long, tapering; Skull long, narrow, nasals upturned 

 anteriorly; no interorbital constriction; palate very long, one-third 

 of its length posterior to last molar; interpterygoid fossa very short, 

 broad; bullae small. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES 



A. Size small; tail short; first upper molar cut PAGE 

 away anteriorly and posteriorly ................ N. nelsoni 495 



B. Size large; tail long; first upper molar not cut 

 away at either end. 



a. Upper parts dark reddish brown ; molariform 



teeth medium ............................... N. nasica 497 



b. Upper parts reddish brown; molariform 



teeth large ............... ............... N. n. molaris 497 



