12 UNITED STATES AND MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 



I 



anterior loloe occupying a rather larger proportion of the tooth ; the horizontal section of the 

 tooth is a right angled triangle, the right angle internal^ while in the cat it is external. The 

 inner anterior tahercle, so prominent in the house cat, is here almost entirely wanting, resembling 

 the panther more than the ocelot or cat. 



The following notice of the present species is taken from Dr. Berlandiere's manuscript : 



" This animal, by some called onza^ by others apache^ is extremely rare in Mexico, where I have only seen it in the interior 

 States of the east. In the State of Tamaulipas it is found in the shrubbery which grows on the shores of the Rio Grande del 

 Norte. The specimen which I have described is a female, and was given to me when very young. I tamed it, without its 

 losing altogether the habits of its kind, especially when in sight of some prey. It had attained the size of a cat, but was more 

 elongated and slender. In every movement it exhibited great lightness and activity, of which we had many proofs. This 

 digitigrade was in the habit of purring like a cat." 



9. FELIS TAGUARUJ^DI, Desm. (p. 88.) 



Sp. Ch. — Larger than the largest common cat; much more elongated in its proportions Tail as long as the body, exclusive 

 of neck and head. Prevailing color a continuous grizzled brownish grey, without any spots. Hairs annulated, and tipped with 

 black. Young rather more rufous. 



The existence of this species on the Rio Grande, like the F. eyra, is established by a skull 

 (1426) in the collection of Dr. Berlandiere, and a description in his MSS. as Felis cacomitli. 

 According to him, ^^ the animal was common in Mexico before the conquest, but is now rare ; 

 it is somewhat abundant about Victoria, and a few have been killed on the Rio Grande near 

 Matamoras. Its general tint is greyish, but the hairs, considered singly, are annulated with 

 rufous and black, the tips blackish. It is about the size of the Fells pardalts^ or ocelot. The 

 female, killed in December, had milk in her teats/' 



Dr. Beilandiere speaks of this animal as being as large as the ocelot. In judging from the 

 skull, however, it is not much more than half as large, and about one-third larger than the 

 Berlandiere skull o{ Felis eyra. According to Burmeister, the yaguarundi is a little larger than 

 the F. eyra; of a continuous blackish brown grey ; each hair has light ash grey at the base, 

 annulated, and broadly tipped with black. The lips and paws are lighter, the greyish predom- 

 inating ; the whiskers are brown. The iris is brown, but lighter than the fur ; the pupil round. 

 Dimensions as F. eyra^ but the head longer, (3^ inches.) 



SJcidl, — The skull of the Felts yaguarundi^ in general shape, exhibits a close relationship to 

 that of F. eyra^ and, like it, much narrower and elongated than in the Felis concolor or pardalis ; 

 calling to mind the mustelas as much as the cats. Like the eyra^ the top of the head is quite 

 plane and broad ; the upper outline curves rapidly from the occiput to above the glenoid cavity; 

 it then slopes downwards almost straiglit, or slightly concave, to above where the orbital 

 process of the frontal bone begins to spring anteriorly ; then making a distinct but very obtuse 

 angle, sometimes in a straight line to the anterior extremity of the nasal processes of the frontal, 

 then makes another angle and slopes rapidly downwards, still in nearly a straight line, to the 

 end of the nasals. The chief peculiarity of the species is seen in the projection forwards of the upper 

 part of the muzzle, so that a line dropped from the extremity of the nasals perpendicular to the plane 

 of the palate would fall very nearly in the centres of the incisors. A similar line in the ocelot, 

 or domestic cat, would fall within the canines. The posterior edge of the intermaxillary, or its 

 suture with the maxillary, is in nearly a straight line, at a right angle, or even more, with the 



