Vol. XIV, pp. 145-148 August 9, 1901 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW OCELOT FROM TEXAS 

 AND XOR'JII EASTERN MEXICO. 



BY ElKiAR A. MEARXS. 



Comparison of the ocelots in tlie United States Xational 

 Museum Collection shows the sintjle form represented from the 

 United States and northern Mexico to be distinct from those to 

 the southward. None of the numerous names hitherto a}>plied 

 to members of the Felis pwdalis grouj) of long-tailed cats re- 

 late to this animal.* It has heretofore been supposed to be 



*The name Fdis nlbescohs of Pucheran, Voyage Venus, Zoolojiy, mam- 

 miferes, etc.. p. 14!): atlas, pi. \U\. l.S.l."), is a pure substitution for the 

 Felifi brai<ilieii.si.s ot Frederic Cuvier, which latter was based on a specimen 

 received from Cuba, and supposed to have been brought tliither from 

 Brazil. Althouiih Pucheran mentions and describes a male specimen 

 sent from Arkansas, in the State of Louisiana, by Trudau, he distinctly 

 states that his name ulbetfcciu is a substitution for bvaxiUeitsix of Fr. 

 Cuvier, of which it therefore becomes a synonym. 



Under the name Panilura luihiririaiKi, Fitzinger, the compiler, de- 

 scribes an intensely-colored ocelot, similar to Hamilton Smith's colored 

 figure 'No. )!, " and gives its range as North America, Louisiana and Ar- 

 kansas. The animal described (Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der 

 Wissenschaften, Wien, LIX, 18G!), p. 2.58) is smaller, with heavy black 

 markings and reddish-brown coloring above, obviously differing from 

 the form here described. The synonymy is composite, including Felis 

 tigrina Erxleben and the Mexican ocelot figured in Griffith's edition of 

 Cuvier's Animal Kingdom as variety No. 3 of Hamilton Smith. Puch- 

 eran's Felix albencens is not given as a synonym, although a specimen 

 from Arkansas is described. 



-.iS-BiOL. Soc. Wash. Vol. XIV, 1901. (145) 



