4S4 Hri.l.KTlN: MISKIM OK COMl' AHATl VK ZOcil.OCY. 



wliilr tlu' peculiar aiul characteristic upward slope of the hack in the 

 live animal is thus described: "Dorsum caineli instar gihhosum, post 

 colhnn suhito ad pectus accliue, sed coxas \ersus dediue." The tail 

 is said to he short, harely reachinji the heel, tlu' manunae six in num- 

 ber. They further note its very fat belly, beautifully covered with 

 thick black hair \aried with spots; feet and shanks whitish, claws 

 strongly exserted. These characteristics recall the Raccoon more 

 than any other animal. Tliere are, however, eight mammae in this 

 animal, and the ears are not pendulous as described, but these dis- 

 crepancies may be due to inaccuracy of observation, or the condition 

 of the specimen (perhaps a preserved hide) which the authors seem to 

 have had. The account quoted from Acosta (1590, p. 277) doubtless 

 refers to the same animal and not to a dog. This author, in his 

 Historia natural y moral de las Indias, writes : — "Verdaderos perros 

 no los auia en Indios, sino unos semejantes a perrillos, que los Indios 

 llaniauan Alco: y por su semejana a los (jue ha sido Ueuados de 

 Espana, tambien los llaman Alco: y son tan ainigos destos perrillos 

 que se quitaran el comer, por darselo: y quandovan camino, los lleuan 

 consigo acuestas, o en el seno." (Of real dogs there are none in the 

 Indies, save certain animals resembling little dogs, which the Indians 

 call Alco; and on account of their resemblance to our dogs brought 

 here from Spain, the Indians call these Alco as well: and so fond are 

 they of their little dogs that they deny themselves of food in order to 

 give it to them; and when they go on a journey they carry the little 

 dogs with them on their shoulders or in their arms). The Raccoon 

 rather than a small dog seems to be indicated here, and the habit of 

 carrying thein al)out on journeys would perhaps account for the 

 present-day anomalous distribution of the small species of raccoon in 

 Central America (Panama) and in the islands of Cozumel, Guade- 

 loupe and New Providence. Acosta's story may also explain the 

 transference of the name Alco to small dogs, though Philippi (1886) 

 says this means dog in the Quichua tongue. 



An early mention of the tame Raccoon is found in Hakluyt's Voy- 

 ages, in A relation of the commodities of Nova Hispania, and the 

 maners of the inhabitants, written by Henry Haw^kes merchant, 

 which lived five yeeres in the sayd countrey, written in 1572. He 

 says: "Their dogs are all crooked backt, as many as are of the coun- 

 trey breed, and cannot run fast: their faces are like the face of a pig 

 or a hog, with sharpe noses." 



If Gmelin's name amcricanns be admitted as applying to a Raccoon 

 it would antedate Wagler's name hcrnandczii (1831) for a Mexican 



