RACCOONS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 3 



129), and Gregory (1933, p. 83). The genus Procyon was well repre- 

 sented in the early Pleistocene of North America, when it already 

 ranged across the present United States from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific. Among Pleistocene species described were Procyon priscus 

 he Conte (1848, p. 106) from Illinois, Procyon simus Gidley (1906, p. 

 553) from California, and Procyon nanus Simpson (1929, p. 575) from 

 Florida. 



The name "raccoon" is derived from Indian appellations of the 

 animal, which have been variously rendered as "aroughcun," 

 "arathkone," and "arakun." The familiar abbreviation "coon" is 

 in general colloquial use in the United States. An animal as common 

 and conspicuous and possessing such peculiar and interesting traits as 

 the raccoon could not remain long unobserved by explorers and set- 

 tlers in its country, and as it became better known it was accorded a 

 prominent place in the folklore of the United States. 



The earliest reference to a raccoon found in the literature is by 

 Captain John Smith (1612, p. 13), who in describing the animals of 

 Virginia says: ''There is a beasf they call Aroughcun, much like a 

 badger, but vseth to live on trees as Squirrels doe." This reference 

 was closely followed by that of Purchas (1614, p. 761) in describing 

 the same region. 



Under the name "Mapach," and apparently as "Tepe Maxtlaton," 

 and perhaps under others, the raccoon was recorded by Hernandez 

 (1651, tract 1, pp. 1, 9) in southern Mexico. The voyager around the 

 world, Dampier (1729, p. 276), mentions the abundance of these 

 animals on the Tres Marias Islands, off western Mexico, which he 

 visited in 1686. The early systematic term Vulpi affinis Americana 

 was applied by Ray (1693, p. 179), in connection with a generalized 

 description of animals probably representing both the subgenera 

 Procyon antl Euprocyon then undifferentiated and very imperfectly 

 known from both North and South America. Quaint descriptions of 

 the raccoon in the Carolinas were published by Lawson (1718, p. 121), 

 and by Catesby (1743, p. XXIX). Hans Sloane (1725, p. 329) credits 

 the animal to Jamaica as follows: "The Racoons are commonly here 

 in the mountains, and live in hollow fiddlewood Trees, from whence 

 they make Paths to go to seek Sugar Canes, which is their chief, if not 

 only Sustenance." No specimens are available from Jamaica, and if 

 this record was well founded it seems strange that it has not been 

 supplemented by others. 



Evidently noting the general resemblances, Linnaeus closely asso- 

 ciated the raccoon with the bear in the 1740 edition of his Systema 

 Naturae (p. 35) as Ursus cauda elongata in contradistinction to the 

 true bear, Ursus cauda abrupfa. Under the same name in 1747 (pp. 

 277-289, table 9, figs. 1 and 2) he published a lengthy description of 



