Vol. XIII, pp. 15-17 January 31, 1899 



PROCEEDINGS 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



THE FLORIDA PUMA. 

 BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



In his book entitled ' Hunting and Fishing in Florida,' pub- 

 lished in 1896, Mr. Charles B. Cory gave a brief description of 

 the Florida Puma, and named it Fell s concolor fori dana (pi). lOd- 

 110). Tliis name is vmtenable, both Desmarest* and Fischer f 

 having used Felts floridanaX for the Florida Lynx. 



I therefore propose for the Florida Puma the name : 



Felis coryi sp. nov. 



T'ljpe from the wilderness back of Sebastian, Florida. No. 7742, (^ old 

 adult, coll. of E. A. and 0. Bangs. Collected Jan. 1, 1898, by F. R. 

 Hunter. 



General characters. — Size very large ; feet very small ; apparently no 

 seasonal change in color ; back ferruginous, finely lined with blackish ; 

 sides paler and more fawn color; skull like that of the North American 

 pumas, and not at all like the skulls of Central and South American 

 species. I 



^Maunnalogie, 1820, p. 225, species No. 350. 



t Synopsis Mamm., 1829, p. 213. 



XLynx floridanus Raf., Am. Monthly Mag., 1817, p. 46. Based on the 

 Lynx or Wildcat of Bartram. 



^ See description of Felis hi2^polestes Merrium, Proc. Biol. Soc, Wash., 

 vol. XI, July- 15, 1897, p. 219. I have compared skulls of the Florida 

 Puma with that of a fine adult $ taken at Santa Marta, Colombia, Feb. 

 15, 1898, by W. W. Brown, Jr., which I take to be true Felis concolor 

 Linn. That of F. concolor is very small, with low, flat unswollen frontals ; 

 long, slender and only slightly decurved postorbital processes ; differ- 

 ently shaped nasals ; much less well developed sagittal crest, falling much 

 farther back ; small teeth ; and inner cusp of carnassial not well devel- 

 oped. Roughly speaking, this skull resembles that of a large ocelot more 

 than it does the skulls of North American pumas. 



5— Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. XIII, 189a (15) 



