REVISION OF THE PUMAS 58 1 



be understood, giving an exaggerated idea of the real color and 

 of the difference between the two. On Vancouver Island, ac- 

 cording to John Fannin, Curator of the Provincial Museum at 

 Victoria, the brown pelage is the common one ; the red pelage 

 rather rare. On the mainland the red is more common. In the 

 case of the Rocky Mountain species [hippolestes), according to 

 Roosevelt, the colors designated as ' red ' and ' blue ' are equally- 

 divided, 6 of each being recorded among the twelve animals 

 killed by him in midwinter in Colorado. 



A curious semi-pathological condition is common in skulls of 

 Pumas from widely separated regions, namely, a tendency to 

 cleft palate, consisting in a complete perforation of the palatine 

 bones on or near the middle of the roof of the mouth This per- 

 foration is usually bifurcate anteriorly and often measures lO 

 mm. or more in length. It is present in 6 out of the 12 skulls 

 of the Roosevelt series from Colorado, in 5 out of 10 skulls in 

 the Biological Survey Collection from Mexico, and in odd skulls 

 from Arizona, Florida, and Vancouver Island. 



For the loan of material additional to that in the collection of 

 the Biological Survey I am indebted to Dr. J. A. Allen, Curator 

 of Mammals and Birds in the American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York; Outram Bangs, Curator of Mammals, 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass. ; Gerritt 

 S. Miller, Jr., Assistant Curator of Mammals, U. S. National 

 Museum, and Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, U. S. A. I wish particu- 

 larly to acknowledge the generosity of Outram Bangs, who has 

 sent me for description two new forms obtained by his collector 

 in tropical America. In addition to these the only specimens of 

 the Florida Puma I have seen are those in the Bangs collection. 



In searching the literature for names that have been given to 

 members of the group, I have been greatly aided by my assist- 

 ant, Wilfred H. Osgood. 



The number of specimens available at the present time is too 

 small, and the gaps in their distribution are too great, to admit 

 of anything like a complete and satisfactory study of the group, 

 or to permit the ranges of the several forms to be mapped. 

 The species and subspecies I am led to recognize, with their 

 type localities, are : 



