160 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. [VolV. 



siliens,"* in his account of the Brazilian Coati, claimed that Maximilian's 

 Nasua solitaria (the " Coati inondeo" of the Brazilians) was based merely 

 on old males of the common species. He refers to the great sexual differ- 

 ences these animals present in respect to habits, as being the basis of a 

 grave error committed by zoologists, and to certain climatic differences 

 in color. He even goes so far as to say : " Ich glaube, dass es nur eine 

 einzige Art, die Nasua socialis gibt, wenigstens enthalten die Beschrei- 

 bungen anderer nichts, was sich nicht auch bei der genannten Art vor- 

 fande." 



In 1873, t however, he recognized two species, namely, Nasua socialis 

 and Nasua leucorhynchus. The first he had found so abundant in Southern 

 Brazil that he collected of it not less than two hundred skulls, as well as 

 many skeletons. He states that from the comparison of these skulls, as 

 from observation of the animal in a state of nature, it appears that the 

 old males live solitary, and have been accounted a different species un- 

 der the name Nasua solitaria. The Brazilian hunters, he says, also dis- 

 tinguish it as " Coati monde" from the common " Coati de vara," but at 

 the same time recognize very well their relationship. Among his above- 

 mentioned skulls were a considerable number of those of old hermits, or 

 solitaires ("Einsiedlern"). At a particular time of life that is to say, 

 when the long canines begin to become worn the old males leave the 

 troops, of which, in company with the old and young females, they had 

 hitherto formed a part, and afterward only run with them during the pairing 

 season. One can tell, he says, with considerable certainty, by the skull, 

 whether or not the animal had already left the troop. The males that run 

 with the troops are, as shown by an examination of their skulls, not fully 

 grown, so that size becomes a distinctive character of the old solitary 

 males. It is difficult, he says, to find any difference in color between 

 the two assumed species ; and although he examined every example care- 

 fully, and with the object of finding two species, he was never able to 

 find any color-differences. He further states that solitary females are 

 never met with, unless, perhaps, they have been driven from the herd 

 in hunting them. 



He later refers to the fact that a considerable number of species have 

 been recognized, but adds that, with one exception, he has no judgment 

 to render respecting them. In Eio de Janeiro he saw an example in 

 confinement, which he thought probably came from Bahia or Pernam- 

 buco, that was distinguishable by its reddish color. He thought it 

 perhaps represented Desmarest's Nasua rufa, but to him it appeared to 

 differ from the Southern Nasua only in its color, through the yellow 

 being of a reddish tone, f 



* Ibid., Jalirg. x, 1869, pp. 289-293. 



t "Beitriige zur Kenntiiiss der Saugethiere Sud-Brasiliens," Abhandl. Kouigl. Akad. 

 Wissenscli. zu Berlin, 1872, (1873), pp. 63-67. 



ilu his former paper, in alluding to this subject, he says: " In Rio de Janeiro, in 

 Bahia und Pernauibuco sah ich gezahmte Coatis, an denen das Gelb der Haare dunkler 

 war uud einen rothlicheu Ton hatte, so dass der Farbeuton des ganzen Thieres auch 



