354 DR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE ARCTOIDEA. [Apr. 21, 



Tufa ', and is represented by one or other of them from Texas to 

 Paraguay. 



It inhabits the mountain tracts of Costa Rica at a height of from 

 6000 to 7000 feet above the sea. Belt ^ observed it pursuing large 

 Iguanas, but they, when surprised asleep, usually dropped and 

 escaped to another tree ; yet the attempt would be continued again 

 and again. He noticed it hunting in large bands, some individuals 

 hunting over the ground and others in the trees, so that the prey 

 had little chance of escape. In Guatemala it is one of the commonest 

 mammals, ranging from the woods of the coast up to forests at a 

 height of 9000 feet. The Coatis are very easily tamed, and are often 

 seen in Spanish American houses, chained to one of the pillars of 

 the corridor surrounding the courtyard. They are very variable in 

 colour apart from differences of age and sex. 



The claws are of considerable size and much longer and stouter 

 than those of Procyon. The digits also are much more united by 

 skin, which extends down them as far as the penultimate joint of each. 



The nose is produce 1 into a short proboscis, the end of which is 

 naked, and has its upper margin much the most projecting. There is 

 no median groove to either nose or lip, but there is a lateral notch 

 in the margin of either nostril. The snout is surrounded by the 

 usual nasal cartilages, much enlarged, and appearing to be more or 

 less fused together. It has a longer, slender, median dorsal cartilage. 



The ears are very hairy within as well as without. There is a 

 very small tragus and a small bifurcating antitragus. The vertical 

 ridge, ascending from the tragus to the helix, flattens out above. 

 The anthelix is prominent and sharply defined ; the prominence 

 below it is much less so. 



The palmar and plantar surfaces are naked. Six mammae are 

 described as existing. 



There are 14 dorsal, 6 lumbar, and 3 sacral vertebrae as in 

 Procyon, and from 19 to 23 caudal vertebrae. The dimensions 

 are given in the tables annexed to this paper, and also the proportions, 

 of which there need here be mentioned only the fact that the 

 relative length of the pelvic limb to the spine is greater than in any 



Quanhpecotl, Hernandez, De Quad. N. Hisp. Fol. 6, cap. 17. 



Pisoti of Spanish Americans. 



Nose and edge of upper lip white ; face and cheeks dark brown ; fur long and 

 soft, the long hairs of dorsal surface tipped with rufous, fulvous, or whitish ; 

 tail of same colour as back, or with half rings on lower surface of basal half. 



Eange from Texas to Panama, perhaps to Colouibia (Tschudi's specimen said 

 to be Brazilian was probably not so). 



1 Coati, Marcgrave, Hist. Nat. lirazil, 1648, p. 228 ; Azara, Hist. Nat. Para- 

 guay, i. 1802, p. 293. 



Coaii noirdtre, Buffon, viii. 1760, p. 358, pi. 47 



Coati a qiieue anneU, Brisson, Eegne Anim. 1756, p. 263. 



Viverra nasita, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 1766, p. 64. 



Fur generally short and harsh ; long hairs of dorsal surface usually black- 

 tipped ; ears rather large and pointed; tail conspicuously annulated with 7-9 

 broad fulvous or rufous rings alternating with black ones. 



Brazil ; Paraguay. 



^ Naturalist iu Nicaragua, p. 339. 



