MAMMALS, 



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the eyra. According to Dr. Berlandiere the animal is ^^ entirely rufous, the head small, ears 

 short, without tuffc£j, hody long and slender, tail long. Size of coramon cat^ but longer. Inhabits 

 the desert regions of Tamaulipas, where it is called onza and apache,'' He further adds that it 



+ 



is found in the shrubbery along the Rio Grande, near Matamoras, although very rare. The 

 specimen described^ to which the skull (1373) ^^robably belongs^ was a female, taken very young 

 and kept in captivity a good while without ever becoming entirely tamed. 



The figure of Dr. Berlandiere represents the animal as a uniform light reddish brown, without 

 any spots whatever, and no lightening of tints beneath. The ears are rather pointed. The 

 tail is slender and tapering gently to the tip, which is not tufted. The tail is rather longer 

 than the body, by about half the length of the neck. The figure also represents the pupil as 

 vertical ; other authors describe the pupil of F. eyra as round. 



The whole form of the animal is very musteline, as shown both by the skull and the figure. 

 The skull is about as long as that of the common cat (the brain case rather more capacious), 



but is more elongated and narrower between the zygomata. The neck also is very long 

 ■ According to Burraeister the Felts eyra is of a clear yellowish red, paler on the belly, the 

 upper lip white, the iris greyish yellow brown, the pupil round. The head and body measure 

 one and a half feet^ the head alone three inches, the tail one foot ; height anteriorly ten inches, 

 posteriorly one foot. It occurs throughout Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay, and by the present 

 identification, as far north as the Kio Grande of Texas, 



Fetis eyra, Large hou$e cat. 



Length of skull (1373) 3.55 inches. 3.55 inches. 



Width of skull 2.33 '' 2.61 



u 



The skull of Felts eyra is about as long as that of the domestic cat, but considerably narrower 

 and more musteline in appearance. The muzzle is narrower, and the zygoma extends further 

 forwards, so that its anterior extremity falls a little in advance of the second premolar instead 

 of within it, as in the cat and ocelot, and still more in the panther. The free portion of 

 the zygoma anteriorly is narrower than in the cat, and the ante-orbital foramen is double in the 

 specimen instead of single. The flattened portion of the crown is of considerable extent, and 

 reaches to the middle of the nasals, instead, as in the other cats, of involving only the posterior 

 extremities of these nasals. The top of the muzzle is broader, and the sides are much less 

 pinched in and more vertical. Viewed from above the zygomata are nearly straight in lateral 

 outline, the lines converging so as to intersect in front of the incisors at a distance of about 

 two-thirds the length of the skull. The post-orbital process of the frontal and malar (the two 

 almost meeting) are much more anterior in this species than in the house cat. The auditory 

 bullae are more compressed. The occipital foramen, instead of being angular above, is gently 

 curved, the whole representing a regular ellipse, the rather larger diameter transverse. The 



occipital condyles are larger and more acutely convergent. The occipital outline is less triangular, 

 more pentagonal. 



The rami of the lower jaw are narrower than in the house cat ; the coronoid process, on the 

 contrary, is higher, broader, and straighter behind. 



The outer incisors are larger than in the house cat, the inter ral between the upper incisors 

 and canines less. The third upper premolar is larger than in the house cat ; the central and 



