tfo.3.] ALLEN ON THE GENUS BASSARIS. 339 



Of two specimens taken at Tehuantepec, January 15, 1809, and 

 labelled by the collector (Prof. F. Suinickrast) as found in coitu, the 

 male is much the larger, grayish-brown above, varied with black, and 

 strongly suffused with fulvous posteriorly ; below, pale yellow ; terminal 

 third of the tail wholly black; the light rings are gray; length of head 

 and body 19J in. ; tail- vertebra 20 in. ; tail to end of hairs 22 in. The 

 female is. much purer gray above, with only a slight suffusion of brown- 

 ish-fulvous posteriorly ; below, pale yellow; the light rings of the tail 

 whitish-gray ; length of head and body 15 in. ; tail- vertebrae 18 in. ; 

 tail to end of hairs 20 in. Another male from the same locality, col- 

 lected in March, 1872, agrees very nearly in color with the male already 

 described, but is rather less strongly suffused with brownish-fulvous ; 

 the light tail-rings are grayish-white, and only the terminal fifth of the 

 tail is wholly black. Another example (sex unknown) from Mirador 

 (Dr. Sartorius) is much darker dorsally throughout, where the prevailing 

 tint is decidedly black, the light tail-rings are narrower and more in- 

 distinct, and the terminal third of the tail is wholly black. The black 

 prevails on the tail to such an extent that above the light rings are well 

 defined only toward the base of the tail. Two specimens from La 

 Palina, Costa Bica, collected in December, 1876 (J. C. Zeledon), differ 

 very little from the last, except that the light rings of the tail are more 

 distinct and whitish-gray. 



It will thus be seen that B. sumichrasti is considerably larger than B. 

 astuta, darker or more blackish in color, with a relatively longer tail, on 

 which the light annulations are narrower, rather more numerous, and 

 unbroken below, where they are merely a little narrower than they are 

 on the upper surface. The ears are broader, less pointed, and about 

 one-fifth shorter than in B. astuta, notwithstanding the smaller size of 

 the last-named species. 



Dr. Duges, in some remarks appended to Cordero's description of his 

 B. monticola, rather questions the importance of some of the characters 

 given by Cordero as distinguishing B. monticola from B. astuta, especially 

 the grooving of the incisors, stating that they are to be found also in 

 young examples of B. astuta, and that they are features that probably 

 disappear with age. Dr. DugeVs remarks respecting other characters, 

 as well as this, show that he has evidently confounded the two species. 

 In respect to the trilobed border of the incisors, which Cordero refers 

 to as having " la figura de una flor de lis," I may say that I have been 

 unable to find any traces of this character in wholly unworn teeth of B. 

 astuta, while in B. sumichrasti it persists in the very oldest specimens, 

 and is even present in one example in which the teeth are all very much 

 worn and some of the incisors are broken off, the two or three remaining 

 incisors still showing the grooves and the resulting lobed cutting-edge. 

 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. Neither De Saussure, Peters, nor 

 Cordero state definitely the localities whence their specimens of this 

 animal were received. De Saussure gives mereiy ' Mexique, and Peters 



