152 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 69 



Specimens examined : Balboa, 6 ' ; Boqueron, I ' ; Gatun, 4 ; 

 Pedregal, 1 8 ; Porto Bello, 2. 



Subgenus EUPROCYON Gray 

 PROCYON CANCRIVORUS PANAMENSIS (Goldman) 



Panama Crab-eating Raccoon: Mapachin 

 [Plate 33, figs- I, io] 

 Euprocyon cancrivorus panamensis Goldman, Smiths. Misc. Coll., Vol. 60, 

 No. 22, pp. 15-16, February 28, 1913. Type from Gatun, Canal Zone, 

 Panama. 



The Panama crab-eating raccoon differs from its North American 

 relative, of the subgenus Procyon, in the reversed direction of the 

 pelage of the nape; from a hair-whorl between the shoulders the 

 pelage is inclined forward, meeting the opposing pelage of the head 

 along a V-shaped line between the ears. It differs also in cranial 

 and dental characters, especially the more rounded molariform cusps 

 which are better adapted for crushing hard substances. The general 

 non-sectorial character of the dentition is shown in the upper car- 

 nassial where the trenchant commissure of the median outer cusp 

 and the postero-internal cusp present in the more northern species is 

 absent. 



The crab-eating raccoon is mainly South American in distribution, 

 but is represented as far north as the Canal Zone where it meets the 

 range of a southern form of the Procyon lotor group. In Panama 

 the altitudinal range is from sea level to 2,000 feet, as determined by 

 the capture of a specimen near Cana, on the slope of the Pirre 

 Mountains. 



Several were shot at night along the banks of the Chagres River, 

 their eyes appearing deep red under the light of a hunting lamp. 

 Another specimen obtained was killed as it emerged from some tall 

 grass near the edge of a swamp whence it had been driven by a pack 

 of hounds. Stomachs examined contained fragments of fish and 

 crabs. 



The so-called crab-eating raccoon is apparently less arboreal in 

 habits than Procyon lotor, the Panama representative of which is, 

 however, also a crab eater. Adaptation for a terrestrial life is shown 

 in the bluntness of the claws as compared with those of Procyon. 

 All of the specimens obtained were found upon the ground while 

 those of Procyon were usually located in trees. 



1 Collection Field Mus. Nat. Hist. 



* Collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



* Collection Mus. Comp. Zool. 



