510 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



It is distinct from each in having proportionately the shortest skull 

 and the largest P*. All three are certainly related cats within the 

 subgenus Jaguarius. 



Clearly P. onca and P. atrox are considerably different creatures, 

 and while it is difficult to decide whether P. augusta is closer kin to 

 P. onca or to P. atrox, it is likewise clear that P. augusta is an inter- 

 mediate form with more or less equivalent degrees of similarity to 

 each in different ways, as is demonstrated by the ratio graphs in figures 

 99, 100, 101, and 102. 



-.06 -.04 , 



.04 .08 



16 .20 



/I 



/ 



/ 



/ 



+ P. atrox 

 n P augusta 

 X P. onca 



Skull length 



Length of 



Humerus 



Skull width 



.Length of Femur 



_Lengfh of Fourth 

 Upper Premolar 

 - Length of Ulna 

 . Length of Tibia 



Length of Third 



Mefafarsal 



-Length of Third 



Metacarpal 



Figure 102. — Ratio graph with Panthera augusta as standard and structures listed so as 

 to emphasize resemblances between P. augusta and P. onca. 



Historically the concept of species was lirst applied to organisms at 

 one chronological horizon, and in that context its implications are 

 fairly clear. P. atrox and P. augusta were contemporary, and statis- 

 tical data for P. atrox are sufficient to show that the species did not 

 include the variations exhibited by P. augusta. These two, then, are 

 separate species. They did not intergrade during the late Pleistocene. 

 And if, as seems to be the case, the modern jaguars are at least as 

 different from the fossil P. augusta as the latter was from P. atrox, 

 then the only practical usage seems to be to recognize all three as 

 separate and valid species. 



We have decided, therefore, to call our specimens from Little Salt 

 River and Saltpeter Caves Panthera (Jaguarius) augusta, and to in- 

 clude in this classification Leidy's '"'■Felis augustus^'' Hay's ''''Felis 

 veronis^'' Simpson's ^''Panthera {Jaguarius) onca augustcC^ (with the 

 possible exception of the second metacarpal), and probably some of 

 the Cumberland Cave specimens (with the reservations noted on 

 pages 501 and 502) . 



