Xo.2.] ALLEN ON THE GENUS NASUA. 161 



The second species lie here admits is the Nasua leucorliynclim from 

 Costa Eica, which, from a comparison of skulls sent him by Dr. von 

 Frantzius, he found to be smaller* than N. sodalix, the skull rounder, 

 with the crests and ridges less developed, and the molar teeth thicker. 



From, the foregoing it will be seen that the two species of Coati owe 

 their first introduction into systematic literature to Linne, who in turn 

 derived them from Brisson and Buffon, by each of whom both were 

 described at nearly the same date. It further appears that these species 

 were properly denned (as far as they were then known) and clearly recog- 

 nized by all the leading systematists, down to the early, part of the 

 present century, and that confusion and obscurity originated with the 

 French encyclopaedists, the two species being similarly more or less in- 

 volved at the hands of both Desrnarest and F. Cuvier in the year 1817, 

 and that malidentification and confusion of synonymy have since been 

 the rule. It furthermore appears that the Linnsean name narica, when 

 used at all. has, since that date, covered dnly color- variations of the Lin- 

 nasan nasua, and that the true narica of Linii6 finally became again 

 specifically distinguished in the leucorliynclms of von Tschudi, and is at 

 last currently recognized under that name as the second and only other 

 valid species of the genus Nasua. 



These two species may be briefly diagnosed as follows : 



COMMON CHARACTERS. Nose produced, terminating in a bald, cartilaginous snout ; 

 tail nearly as long as the body. Skull narrow, long, the frontal region elevated ; 

 palate prolonged backward ; postorbital processes rudimentary in youth, well 

 developed in old age ; sagittal and occipital crests strongly developed in the males 

 in old age, but the former permanently obsolete in the females. Incisors ^|, of 

 moderate size, the outer upper separated from the others, and placed more pos- 

 teriorly; canines l ~, all curved outward, greatly developed in the males, of 

 moderate size in the females ; the upper laterally compressed with cutting edges ; 

 the lower rather larger and subtriangular, with a deep longitudinal groove on 

 the inner anterior border ; premolars z ~] molars |~.' A small white spot above, 



another below the eye, and a third on the cheek Genus Nasua Storr. 



DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. 1. Nose and edge of upper lip white, in strong con- 

 trast with the dark brown of the cheeks and facial region ; tail concolor with the 

 back, or with obsolete half-rings on the lower surface of the basal half. Pelage 

 long, soft, the long hairs of the dorsal surface tipped with rufous, fulvous, or 

 whitish. Hinder portion of the palate angularly depressed medially. . .narica. 

 2. Nose and upper lip gray, uniform in color with the cheeks and facial region ; 

 tail conspicuously annulated with about 7 to 9 rather broad fulvous or rufous 

 rings, alternating with dusky or black ones. Pelage generally short, harsh, 

 shining, the long hairs of the dorsal surface usually black-tipped. Size smaller 

 and nasal region of the skull narrower than in the preceding ; palatal region 

 also narrower, with its posterior portion flat not sharply depressed in the mid- 

 dle, as in the preceding. Ears also rather longer and more pointed rufa. 



etwas rothlich war ; allein iin Uebrigen glichen sie ganz den Coatis des Siidens und 

 konnten hochstens als klimatische Farbenvarietat betrachtet werden." Loc. cit., p. 

 291. 



* His Costa Rican specimens, as shown by his descriptions and measurements of 

 them, were not fully grown, which accounts for his statement that the Costa Rican 

 species is smaller, it being in reality larger. 



