154 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. [7bZ.V. 



species with an ammlated tail. This later became in part the basis of 

 Erxlebeii's Viverra vulpecula.* Only the first two of Bilsson's three spe- 

 cies above cited have special importance in the present connection. His 

 diagnoses are so explicit as to leave no doubt respecting the particular 

 species characterized, and they thus render Linne's Viverra narica and 

 V. nasua perfectly determinable. Buffon also described and figured 

 both species from specimens he was able to study in life, under the 

 names "Le Coati brun" and "Le Coati noiratre," corresponding respec- 

 tively with Linne's Viverra narica and V. nasua. Schreber copied Buf- 

 fon's plates and adopted Linne's names. He seems, however, to have 

 had personal knowledge of both species, and takes pains to clearly point 

 out their specific differences, alluding to the fact that both Buffon and 

 Pennant considered Viverra narica as merely a "variety" ("blosse Spiel - 

 arten") of V. nasua. Erxleben and Gmelin also adopted Linne's names, 

 and correctly referred to them Brisson's and Buffon's species. G . Cuvier, 

 in 1798, employed Buffou's vernacular names, but referred the species to 

 the genus Ursus, retaining, however, the specific names given by Linne. 

 Shaw, in 1800, gave Viverra narica as a " var.?", remarking that it had 

 usually been considered as a variety of Viverra nasua, but adds: "It is, 

 however, rather larger than the former [V. nasua], of a browner color, 

 and without any annuli, or, at least, without any distinct variegations 

 on the tail," thereby showing that he appreciated correctly some of the 

 more obvious external characters of the two species. Up to this time 

 the two species had not been confounded by systematic writers, and the 

 references to Brisson and Buffon prove to have been correctly allocated. 

 Desmarest, in 1817, apparently intended to adopt for the group Storr's 

 generic name Nasua, of which he recognized three species, as follows : 

 1. " Le Coati, Nasua quasje, Geoffroy," to which he referred " Viverra 

 quasje, Linn." (i. e., Gmelint), and Buffon's " le Coati noiratre." 2. " Le 



* The Viverra vulpe^ula of Erxleben is one of those curious compositions so frequently 

 met with in the works of the earlier systematists, particularly those of Linne", Erx- 

 leben, and Gnielin, based on the descriptions and figures of still earlier writers, 

 especially those of Hernandez, Seba, Jonston, Brisson, Buffon, and Schreber. These 

 compositions frequently embraced what, in the light of the present day, can be recog- 

 nized as several widely diverse species, belonging not unfrequently to distinct fami- 

 lies of animals. While some of the citations are still indeterminable with certainty, 

 others may be readily identified. Erxleben's first citation under his vulpecula is 

 "Yzquiepatl sen Vulpecula, quae Maitzium torrefactum aernulator colore HernantL 

 Mex. p. 332 cum jig. mediocr.", which is apparently the " Ichneumon de Yzquiepatl, sen 

 Vulpecula Americana, quss colore Maizium torrefactum semulator" of Seba (Thesau. i, 

 1634, 68, pi. xlii,fig. 1). said to be "in America Quasjo vocatur" and "vivum ad Suri- 

 nam." The description and figure indicate an animal having some resemblance to a 

 Coati, but is as likely to have been a Raccoon, and is certainly indeterminable with 

 certainty. With it are combined Brissou's "Le Blaireau de Surinam," which is un- 

 questionably a Nasua, andBuffou's "LeCoase" (Hist. Nat., xiii, pp. 288, 299, pi. xxxviii), 

 which is beyond doubt the Pekaii or Fisher of " Virginie," the Mustela pennantiof 

 modern systeinatists, and (primarily) the Viverra vulpecula of Schreber, which Erxle- 

 beu also quotes. 



t Although various writers cite a "Viverra quasje, Linn.", the name originated with 

 Gmelin (Syst. Nat., i, 87), whose first reference is: " V. castanea subtus flavescens, naso 



