FAUNA AMERICANA. 49 



ly about the head and neck ; colour grayish, some- 

 times bordering on brown or white ; anterior 

 claws elongated ; facial line rectilinear, or slightly 

 arched. 



Dimensions. Total length, eight feet seven 

 inches six lines ; greatest circumference, five feet 

 ten inches ; circumference of the neck, three feet 

 eleven inches ; of the middle of the leg, one foot 

 eleven inches ; length of the claws, four inches 

 five lines. 



Description. This animal is best described by 

 Mr. Say, (Long's Exp. to the Rocky Mountains, 

 p. 52,) under the name of U. horribilis, but hav- 

 ing been taken chiefly from the prepared speci- 

 mens of a male and female in the Philadelphia 

 Museum, must necessarily be imperfect in some 

 respects, inasmuch as these individuals were cap- 

 tured very young, and brought up in a confined 

 cage, and when killed had not attained a state 

 of maturity and full growth. These circumstances 

 would materially change the quality and colour 

 of the hair, nails, and other superficial characters. 

 Nevertheless, to Mr. Say is due the credit of hav- 

 ing first noticed those specific characters which 

 establish this as a distinct species from any pre- 

 viously described. Desmarest in his Mammalogie, 

 so late as 1820, remarks, "the only characters 

 which induce us to place this species here, are 

 taken from its enormous size ; for all the informa- 

 tion we possess besides, concerning this individual. 



