DISTRIBUTION OF RACCOONS 151 



Yet even those who do are at a loss to account for its presence 

 in Australia. Professor Weber * favours a very early human 

 introduction, even in Pliocene times. I myself have been 

 unable to form a definite judgment on this subject. 



The origin of the Falkland island wolf is in so far a very 

 much more difficult problem to solve, as none of the species 

 of the dog tribe living on the opposite mainland of South 

 America are at all nearly related to it. Dr. Wallace'f and also 

 Mr. Lydekker J express the opinion that the Falkland islands 

 were evidently connected with the mainland at no distant date. 

 Dr. Wallace believed that this wolf was closely allied to a 

 Patagonian species. 



Later on (p. 430) I shall have some further remarks to 

 make on this subject. I only mentioned these two instances 

 of distribution to show the difficulties which we frequently 

 have to contend with. 



The ra-ccoon (Procyon lotor) is by no means a typical in- 

 habitant of the prairie, still as it occurs here and there and 

 is very characteristic of North America it may as well be 

 mentioned here. By nature a forest animal, the raccoon, with 

 its omnivorous propensities and great adaptability, easily ac- 

 customs itself to the most diverse surroundings, and as a 

 rule thrives and breeds well in confinement. It inhabits the 

 whole of the United States and southern Canada and belongs 

 to a family (Procyonidae) which is quite confined to North 

 and South America, and always has been. We need not hesi- 

 tate in this case in attributing its origin to America, The 

 raccoon family has the same ancestors (the Early Tertiary 

 Miacidae) as the dog family, according to Dr. Matthew, one 

 of the members of the former, Cercoleptes (Potos), being 

 actually the nearest in its skeletal construction to the Eocene 

 Miacidae. It has been stated by Dr. Matthew that the lower 

 Miocene Phlaocyon from Colorado is approximately, though 

 not exactly, ancestral to the raccoon ; but in view of the fact 

 that both Dr. Ameghino and Dr. von Ihering || emphatically 



* Weber, M., " Der Indo-australische Archipel," p. 40. 



t Wallace, A. E., "Geographical Distribution," II., p. 49. 



t Lydekker, E., " History of Mammals," p. 140. 



Matthew, W. D., " Carnivora and Insectivora of the Bridger," p. 331. 



|| Ihering, H. von, "Siidamerik. Eaubtiere," pp. 159160. 



