I'i2 



SIXTH REPORT — 183G. 



Felis onca, Fr. Cuv. //. des Mam. pi. 

 „ discolor, Cuv. 

 „ pardalis, Griff. Cifv. pi. y. 

 „ rufa, ScHRKB. 109, 13. 

 „ milis, F. Cuv. H. des Mam. No. 18. 

 „ ciinadensis*? Geoff. 

 „ Grijfithsii, FiscH. Syn. Gkiff. Cuv. 



Oeel. 3. 

 „ chiliguoaza, Fisch. Syn. Griff. &c. 



Ocel 4. 

 „ maculata, Horsf. & Vig. Zool. J. 4, 



13. 



Lutra canadensis, Fr. Cuv. B. desSc. 27. 



„ lata.xina*.' Id. lb. 

 Enhydra marina*. Cook, Third Voy. 43. 

 Lupus occidentalis. Rich. F.B.J. 3. 



„ mexicanus, Lin. Licht. Hern. 



„ latraus, Rich. F.B.A. 4. 



„ ochropus, EscHSCH. Zool. All. 2. 



„ nigrirostris, Light. Hern. 

 Vulpes lagopus*, Thien. Nat. Bern. 



„ isaiis, Id. Id. 



„ fulvus, Rich. i^. B.>^. 5. 



„ cinereo-argentatus, Schreb. 

 „ velo.x, Say, Lony. Rip. 



It is to this great family that the terrestrial quadrupeds which 

 are common to the old and new continents mostly belong. The 

 generic forms are those of Europe, with a few exceptions, such 

 as 'procyon, nasua, hassaris and mephitis, which seem to be 

 stragglers from the South American zoological province. On 

 the other hand, the genus lutra, which is a northern form, sends 

 a few species to the south of the Isthmus of Darien. 



Plantigrada. — Two bears of the preceding list are peculiar 

 to the New World, -n^imeXY fero.v and americanns, the former 

 dwelling principally in the Rocky Mountains, but occasionally 

 descending to the neighbouring prairies, while the latter inha- 

 bits all the wooded districts from Carolina to the Arctic Sea, 

 being, however, less numerous near the coast. The maritimiis 

 is common to all the northern regions, but it ought in fact to 

 be considered rather as a sea animal than a land one : it tra- 

 verses the whole of the icy seas from Nova Zembla and Spitz- 

 bergen to Greenland, and from thence along Arctic America to 

 the shores of Siberia. It is, in fact, the most northern quadru- 

 ped, having been seen by Sir Edward Parry in the 82nd degree 

 of latitude, and it descends on the Labrador coast to the 55th. 

 The males, and females that are not gravid, travel far in the 

 winter time over the ice in quest of food*. The'tirsus arctus 

 does not range in America much to the south of the Arctic 

 circle, being confined to the " bari'en-grounds :" its identity 

 with its European namesake has not been been properly esta- 

 blished. Lichtenstein, in his observations on the work of Her- 

 nandez, mentions two or three species of nasua as existing in 

 Mexico, one of them being white with large black spots. The 

 raccoon {procyon lotor) ranges from Canada as far south, it is 

 said, as Paraguay : on the coast of the Pacific, its skins are ob- 



* Vide App. to Capf. Back's Journey, wherein an instance is quoted of a 

 whale having been killed by the crew of a vessel which was beset in the winter 

 by ice 60 miles from the land. Next day many bears and arctic fo.xescame to 

 feed on the crang ! ! 



