2 2O Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXII, 



and form of the markings thus covers a wide range, but the extremes 

 are connected by intermediate variations. 



There is also great variation in size, both in the skull and in 

 external measurements, as shown in the accompanying table of 

 measurements. The skulls vary greatly in the length and form 

 of the nasals, which range in length on the median line from 

 22 to 26 mm., and in greatest anterior breadth from 16 to 18 mm., 

 in skulls of practically the same general size. Also the nasals may 

 terminate posteriorly in a long narrow point or end abruptly. 1 The 

 interpteiygoid fossa varies widely in size and form, the notch in the 

 posterior border of the palate being either shallow and broadly 

 rounded or much deeper and more V-shaped. The pterygoid fossa 

 is even more variable, and the lateral shelf may be very broad, with 

 a breadth of 3 to 5 mm., or practically obsolete. These differences 

 are so great that if the extreme specimens came from widely separated 

 localities they might easily be taken as of considerable importance. 



In the following table of measurements the specimens are arranged 

 in the sequence of size, based on the basal length (Henselian) of the 

 skull, the largest being placed first. The specimens are all from the 

 vicinity of Escuinapa, and all adult, though some are much older than 

 others; a few have well developed sagittal and occipital crests, but 

 others with undeveloped crests exceed them in size. 



Specimens from Brownsville, Texas, the type locality of Felis 

 limitis Mearns, and from Arizona and Chihuahua do not differ essen- 

 tially from the Escuinapa series. Unless the Ocelot formerly inhabiting 

 Arkansas was different from the Ocelot of the Lower Rio Grande, 

 Arizona, and northern Mexico, which is not probable, the proper 

 name of this pale northern form of the pardalis group is albescens 

 of Pucheran. who based the name on a male specimen "de 1' etat d' 

 Arkansas, dans la Louisiane, " sent by the well-known naturalist 

 Trudau to the menagerie in Paris. His description, which is very 

 detailed (/. c., pp. 142-149), with measurements, and accompanied 

 by a colored figure, agrees unquestionably well with the Texas animal. 

 His belief that the Arkansas animal was specifically identical with 

 that previously described by F. Cuvier under the name Felis brasil- 

 iensis a name which is both unidentifiable and preoccupied - does 

 not invalidate Pucheran's name, based on an Arkansas specimen 



1 ?^ e v ? riation in tne siz~ and form of the nasals is relatively as great as in Odocoileus sinalo, 

 as shown in Plates XXI-XXVI in the present paper. The present series of Ocelot skulls furnishes, 

 in fact, quite as impressive an illustration of individual variation in these features as that afforded 

 by the Sinaloa, Deer. 



