240 NAStriDiE. 



Nasua quasie, Geoff. Mim. Pan's. 



Nasua leucorypha, Tachiuli, Arch, fur Natury. 



? Nasua nocturna, Pr. 3Li:v. Pcitr. ii. p. 298. 



Nasua obfuscata, lUu/er, Prodi: 



Nasua mondie, Illiger, Prodr. 



Nasua fusca, Desm. 3Iamm. p. 170; P. Z. S. 1859, p. 435; 1860, 



pp. 243, 333. 

 ? Nasua solitaria, Pr. Max. Beitr. ii. p. 299. 

 Nasua socialis fusca, Fischer, Syn. Mannn. p. 149. 

 Nasua narica, Gray, Cat. Mamm. B. M. p. 74 ; P. Z. S. 1864, p. 702. 

 Coati brun, Cuvier, Jlkpie Anim. i. p. 444; F. Cuvier, Manmi. 



Lithoyr. t. ; Bvffon, H. N. viii. t. 48, 49. 

 Dusky Brazilian Weasel, Penn. Syn. p. 330. 

 Couati, Azara, Essai, i. p. 334. 

 Meles surinamensis. Brisson, Reyne Anim. p. 255. 

 Narica, Linn. Act. Holm. 1768, p. 152, t. 

 Le Coati noiratre, Bnffon, H. N. viii. t. 47. 



Hah. Surinam (/. H. Lance). 



I have examined with care a series of skiUls which are said to 

 have belonged to these two species, but have been unable to discover 

 any characters by which the skuUs belonging to one species can be 

 distinguished from those belonging to the other. The skuUs of 

 animals of each species vary considerably in the breadth and flatness 

 or convexity of the palate, in the form of the palate behind near the 

 hinder nasal aperture, and in the length of the line occupied by the 

 upper canines and grinders. 



In most of the specimens of N. rufa and N. narica the upper 

 canine teeth and the grinders occupy a line of-l^ inch ; but in two 

 large skulls, with very strong occipital ridges and expanded zygo- 

 matic arches, the teeth occupy a line rather more than 2 inches 

 long ; in another large skull, with the occipital ridge less developed, 

 and the zygomatic arches less prominent, they occupy the same 

 length : the skuUs are each 5 inches long ; and one is 3|, the other 

 31, and the last 3 inches wide. But I can find no other characters 

 to separate them, nor can I find any young specimens having similar 

 characters. 



If I had only two or three skulls, I might have perhaps seen dif- 

 ferences which I might have regarded as distinctions ; but when a 

 series of some twenty or more are examined, it is impossible to de- 

 fine any distinction. 



3. Nasua dorsalis. B.M. 



Fur red-brown ; under-fur dull brown, longer hairs thin, pale, 

 with thick red-brown tips ; chin, throat, and chest whitish ; face 

 pale, blackish-grizzled ; feet and broad streak on hinder half of the 

 back black ; tail blackish, with irregular interrupted grey rings. 

 Nasua dorsalis. Gray, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 169, 1. 17. 



Hah. South America. 



The skull is imperfect, the face with the teeth only having been 

 preserved. The face resembles that of the skuU of Nasua narica in 

 the Museum Collection, no. 225 a (the measurement of which is 



