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TROPICAL AMERICA AND ITS ANIMALS 



Grisons. 



The grisons, which form an exclusively American group of the 

 weasel tribe, are distinguished by the dentition, their broad flat heads, 

 small rounded ears, nearly plantigrade feet with bare soles, and dark under-parts. 



■' The largest of the group is 



the tayra (Galictis bar- 

 bara), a species measuring 

 about 3 feet in length, 

 blackish brown in colour, 

 with the ears and soles 

 occasionally white. Its 

 range apparently extends 

 from Mexico to the Argen- 

 tine pampas. 



The grison (G. vittata) 

 is a smaller animal than 

 the tayra, from which it 

 differs in coloration, having, 

 like many other members 

 of the weasel tribe, the 

 under-parts darker than 

 the back. It has a con- 

 siderable range in South 

 America. A third repre- 

 sentative of the group is 

 G. allemandi, 



Although 

 Weasels. 



there are no 



martens in tropical America 

 the weasels are represented in Brazil by 

 Mustela frenata or a nearly allied species, 

 while Patagonia possesses a peculiar type 

 known as Lyncodon patagonicus. 



South and Central America 

 are poor in hoofed animals, the 

 most numerous group being the deer. Among 

 these, the white T tailed deer is represented by 

 a small form from Colombia and Ecuador, 

 characterised by its nearly naked ears, and 

 known as Mazama [Odocoileus] americana 

 gymnotis, if it be regarded as entitled to 

 specific rank. The Costa Rica deer (M. 

 americana truei) may be regarded as another local form of whitetail, charac- 

 terised by its simple spike-like antlers. The brockets, the typical representatives 

 of Mazama, are an exclusively tropical American group, readily recognised by 

 their small stature, simple spike-like antlers, and the reversal of the direction of 

 the hair of the face. The most familiar representative is the red brocket (M. 



KINKAJOU. 



