l66 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 



(1916, p. 372) in listing specimens from Tapalisa says: "I shot 

 one near the junction of the Rio Tapalisa and the Rio Tacarcuna, but 

 the wounded animal was lost in the rapid stream. Indian hunters 

 brought in two." The animal is known as nutria to natives of the 

 Canal Zone. 



Specimens examined : Cana, i ; Gatun, i ; Tapalisa, 2.* 



Family FELIDAE. Cats 



The cats of the region under review are comprised in two genera ; 

 the genus Felis, which is well represented by the jaguar, the puma, 

 the ocelot, and the long-tailed spotted cat ; and the genus Herpailurus 

 including only the yagouaroundi. 



Genus FELIS Linnaeus. Cats 

 The cats assigned to the genus Felis vary considerably in size and 

 color. The jaguar, the ocelot, and the long-tailed spotted cat are 

 recognizable by their profusely spotted color pattern ; the puma is 

 fairly familiar as a big plain colored animal. 



FELIS ONCA CENTRALIS Mearns 

 Central American Jaguar ; Tigre 

 Felis centralis Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, Vol. 14, p. 139, August 

 9, 1901. Type from Talamanca, Costa Rica. 



The jaguar, the largest of American cats, ranges from far south 

 in South America north through the tropical parts of Middle 

 America and occasionally reaches the southern United States. 

 Several forms, apparently geographic races assignable to a single 

 species, have been described, but their exact relationships are im- 

 perfectly known. F. 0. centralis seems to be a comparatively small 

 subspecies. 



No specimens were obtained by me, but tracks probably of this 

 subspecies were seen along the forested banks of the Rio Tuyra a 

 few miles above Real de Santa Maria. Anthony (1916, p. 371) 

 records a specimen killed by an Indian hunter at Boca de Cupe. The 

 jaguar is well known as " tigre " to native hunters and is said by 

 them to occur here and there throughout the region, favoring dis- 

 tricts where deer and peccaries are abundant. Imperfect skins from 

 indefinite localities were seen in the market in the city of Panama. 

 Black individuals, doubtless melanistic examples, are to be found 

 occasionally in the Darien region. They are supposed by some to be 

 a distinct species known as " tigre negro." 



* Collection Amer. ]\Ius. Nat. Hist. 



