Geographical Races of the Taijra. 147 



So far as can be made out by the descriptions given by 

 different writers on the Tayras, it would appear that senex (no 

 doubt the Tepeytzcuitli of Hernandez) is found over a large 

 part of Southern Mexico, while hiologice ranges over the other 

 provinces of Central America. 



3. Oalictis harbara typica, Linn. 



(Sjnonyms : Gulo canescens. 111. ; Viverra poliocephala, Traill ; Muslela 

 ffulina, Wied ; Gulo laira, F, Cuv. ; £Jira ilya, H.-Sm. ; Galictii 

 b. peruana, Tschudi.) 



Head greyish brown, paler than in biologi'ce, darker than in 

 senex, neck more suffused with yellowish; line of demar- 

 cation on shoulders fairly evident, though not so sharp as in 

 senex. Breast-spot normally present. 



Tayras of this type are represented in the Museum collection 

 by examples from many parts of South America, and all 

 seem very similar in colour, when normal specimens only are 

 examined. But two forms of abnormal coloration also occur 

 side by side with the normal ones, and might, in the absence 

 of sufficient material, have been taken for separable species 

 or subspecies. 



One of these is a pale form, apparently a semi-albinism, 

 which occurs somewhat frequently and has been referred to 

 by Burmeister ^ and other authors. 



In two examples of this variety in the Museum the whole 

 body is dull whitish, but the muzzle, some hairs at the bases 

 of the toes, an indistinct line down the back, and the tips of 

 the tail-hairs are blackish. 



Another spasmodic variation is most striking, and, so far 

 as I am aware, quite unique. Three examples of it are in 

 the Museum, differing considerably among themselves, but 

 agreeing in the essential fact that the brightly contrasted 

 triangular breast-spot is reproduced again on the back in the 

 region of the withers. In the best marked example, from 

 Bogota (Child collection) the spot is similar in size, shape, 

 and colour to the breast-spot, but the apex of the triangle 



f)oints towards the tail. In another example from unknown 

 ocality it is connected across the shoulders with the breast- 

 spot, so that a light ring passes right round the animal. In a 

 third specimen, from the Valley of the Cauca, the dorsal spot 

 is only about half its size in the other two. 



That this most striking variation is not a mark of specific 

 or subspecific distinction is shown by the fact that the 

 Museum possesses normal examples of G. b. typica both 

 from Bogota and the Cauca Valley, these specimens agreeing 

 absolutely in every other respect with the abnormal ones. 



* Thiere Brasilieus, p. 108 (1854). 



10* 



