NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA GOLDMAN 15I 



Genus PROCYON Storr. Raccoons 

 The raccoons are distinguished externally by robust form, short 

 ears and nose, and rather short, somewhat bushy, rinj:^ed tail. Two 

 species, recognized as subgenerically distinct, inhabit parts of the 

 Isthmian region. 



Subgenus PROCYON Storr 



PROCYON LOTOR PUMILUS Miller 



Little Panama Raccoon ; Mapachin 



[Plate 32, figs. I, la] 



Procyon pumilus Miller, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, Vol. 24, p. 3, January 

 28, 191 1. Type from Ancon, Panama. 



The mapachin or common raccoon closely resembles its congener, 

 the crab-eating species, but is recognizable externally by the normal 

 inclination backward of the pelage of the nape. 



Material now available, including a series of six topotypes, shows 

 that this raccoon, while small, is not so diminutive as the type, a 

 rather unusually under-sized and not fully adult individual, seemed 

 to indicate. General comparisons point to intergradation with the 

 common raccoon of North America, through Procyon lotor cras- 

 sideits of Costa Rica, the next geographic race to the north, and 

 P. I. hernandezii of Mexico. The animal inhabiting the Canal 

 Zone, and differing essentially from the more northern continental 

 forms only in size, marks in this region the southern known limit 

 of the range of the P. lotor group. 



These raccoons are more numerous in the Canal Zone than the 

 larger so-called crab-eating species, Procyon cancrivorus panamensis, 

 which inhabits the same region. While generally distributed they 

 favor the vicinity of swamps and streams and share the crab-eating 

 habit with P. c. panamensis, as shown by stomachs examined. They 

 are more arboreal in habits, however, as evidenced by their sharper 

 claws and the fact that they were commonly found in trees while 

 the latter species was encountered on the ground. Several were shot 

 at night as they climbed about among the mangroves along the More 

 River near Porto Bello. They were located by their eyes which give 

 off deep red reflections under the glare of a hunting lamp. On one 

 occasion two were found close together in a tree, and when shot both 

 at once came tumbling with a great splash into the water near the 

 canoe. 



Bangs (1902, p. 49) notes the species from Pedregal, Chiriqui, 

 where it was taken by W. W. Brown, Jr. Allen (1904, p. 77) 

 recorded a specimen taken by J. H. Batty at Boqueron. 



