494 NASUA. 
The Coatis are chiefly arboreal in their habits, and are remarkable 
for the lengthened, flexible nose, which is capable of movement in 
almost any direction, and also of being made perfectly rigid at the 
will of the animal. Three species and six subspecies only are known, 
resembling each other somewhat in the color of their coat, which is, 
however, even in individuals of the same species, liable to assume a 
great variety of hues wholly independent of age or sex, and which 
range from a reddish brown and orange to pale brown. Like the 
other members of the family, the Coati-Mundis, as they are some- 
times called, are omnivorous, and eat birds, mammals, insects, fruit, 
or in fact almost anything they can get. They go in small bands of 
a dozen or more, but sometimes an old male may be seen by himself, 
if it is not in the pairing season; but females are never found alone. 
It is an inquisitive animal and pries with its long nose or claws into 
everything that attracts its attention, and like the coon, is very 
mischievous and always busy and restless. The long tail, though 
not prehensile, is sometimes used to draw objects within reach of its 
paws. The various species range over a great extent of country, and 
are found from Mexico to Paraguay in South America, and from the 
Atlantic Coast to the Andean range. 
94. Nasua. Coatis. 
Siar =I; 4-4. 2—2 
Ceectner a dy 
J. A. Allen. On the genus Nasua Storr, Bull. U. S. Geogr. & Geol. 
Surv, Lert, Vi te7O.-p.aae. 
Nasua Storr, Prodr. Meth. Mamm., 1780, p. 35. Type Vzverra 
nasua Linneus. 
Nose lengthened, snout truncate, upturned; body long, com- 
pressed; tail long, tapering; Skull long, narrow, nasals upturned 
anteriorly; no interorbital constriction; palate very long, one-third 
of its length posterior to last molar; interpterygoid fossa very short, 
broad; bulle small. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECLES 
A. Size small; tail short; first upper molar cut PAGE 
away anteriorly and posteriorly................N. nelsomt 495 
B. Size large; tail long; first upper molar not cut 
away at either end. 
a. Upper parts dark reddish brown; molariform 
teeth mediums 0 85 5s 5a el ie ee ee ee 
b. Upper parts reddish brown; molariform 
teeth: large. so) 2 ee ee N.n. molarts 497 
