THE OCELOT CATS. 



By Edgar A. Mearns, 



Major and Surgeon, United States Army. 



My thanks are duo to the authorities of the United States National 

 Museum for collecting and placing- at ni}^ disposal as many specimens 

 of Ocelots as were obtainable. In addition, through the United States 

 National Museum and the kind offices of Mr. Witmer Stone and the 

 authorities of the Philadelphia Academj^ of Natural Sciences, and 

 through Dr. J. A. Allen, I have had the Ocelots belonging to the col- 

 lections of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and the 

 American Museum of Natural History, New York; and, through Dr. 

 C. Hart Merriam, the specimens of I^elis limiUs in the collection of 

 the Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 have ])een placed in my hands. From this material it has been possi])le 

 to differentiate five vcr}^ distinct forms of the Ocelot, unconnected by 

 intermediate individuals in the materials examined. These forms may 

 be identified by means of the following 



KEY TO THE AMERICAN OCELOTS. 



a. Color decidedly grayish. Black markings restricted. Hize small or medium. 

 I>. Total length less than 1,100 mm. Skull less than 115 mm. in basilar length. 

 Tail plainly ringed with black above, except at base; subterminal black rings 

 about 8. Ground-color uniformly grayish. Audital bulUe short and inflated. 

 Inhabits the valley of the Rio Grande of Texas and Mexico. 



Felis liinitis Mearns. 



hh. Total length more than 1,100 mm. Skull more than 115 mm. in basilar length. 



Tail irregularly spotted with black above; subterminal black rings about 3. 



Color grayish, decidedly tinged with tawny on head and neck. Audita! 



buUte elongate. Inhabits Brazil and the northeastern portion of Soutli 



America Fdis chibigouazon ( i ritlith. 



aa. Color decidedly tawny. Black markings extended. Size large. 



c. Ground-color above, uniformly tawny, tinged with rufous. Spots of ui)per 

 portion of body all black, not inclosing light areas. Postorbital ])readth of 

 skull greater than the length of the nasal bones. 



Felis xquatorialis, new species. 

 cc. Ground-color above, tawny anteriorly, becoming grayish or paler poste- 

 riorly. Spots of dorsal region black, inclosing, or partially inclosing, light 

 areas. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXV— No. 1286. 



237 



