188 On a new Puma from Patagonia. 
the type of the genus, having them, as first pointed out by 
Bleeker *, fused into thin plates of spongious appearance, 
which he describes as “‘ex parte reticulatim unitis,” and 
which must act as a most efficient sifting apparatus. 
Above the gills, apparently coiled like a whelk, is the 
bulky organ to which attention is drawn. It is not without a 
certain resemblance at first sight to the gill-snail of Heterotis ; 
but on closer inspection it is found not to be spirally coiled 
at all, but to consist of four distinct parts each attached to 
the ventral surface of the upper segment of a gill-arch and 
forming asimple involution. It thus differs very considerably 
from the organ described in other fishes, and which depends 
of the fourth branchial arch only. 
I do not know of any observations on the habits of Hypo- 
phthalmichthys which would throw light on the function of 
the organ to which attention is here drawn. 
XXVI.—On a new Form of Puma from Patagonia. 
By OLpFIELD Tuomas, E.R S. 
THE National Collection owes to the generosity of Mr. C. 
Arthur Pearson the skin of a fine puma, obtained by 
Mr. Hesketh Prichard during the recent ‘ Daily Express’ 
expedition to Patagonia. ‘he skin is remarkably unlike 
any known form of puma, and appears certainly to represent 
a new subspecies. 
Dr. Matschie has already shown + that the red puma of 
the tropics, to which he restricts the name Felis concolor, is 
replaced south of 25° §. lat. by the silver-grey form for 
which Molina’s name &. puma is used. 
Now, again, south of about 44° S. lat., there proves to be 
another form, represented in the British Museum not only by 
Mr. Prichard’s skin from Santa Cruz, but by a second much 
younger specimen from the Rio Senguer. Both show the 
same characteristics, and are equally different from the 
Argentine silver-grey form. 
Jn commemoration of Mr. Pearson’s scientific spirit in 
sending out the expedition, and in presenting the specimen 
to the National Museum, I would propose to call it 
Felis concolor Pearsont, subsp. n. 
General build thick and sturdy, with comparatively short 
* Verh. Akad. Amsterd. xii, no. 2, 1871, p. 83. 
+ SB. Ges. nat. Fr. Berlin, 1892, p. 220; 1894, p. 58. 
