^0.2.] ALLEN ON THE GENUS NAsUA. 159 



Isasua soUtaria. To the Urst he vktually referred all tlie species of pre- 

 vious authors except X. soUtaria of Maximilian, which alone constitutes 

 his second species. This, however, as Hensel has shown, unquestiona- 

 bly relates only to old males of the common species. 



In 1800, Weinland described and figured* a species of Coatifrom Vera 

 Cruz, JMexico, under the name JSFasua soUtaria var. mexicana. The speci- 

 men was taken when two months old, and transmitted alive to the 

 Frankfort Zoological Garden, and when described and figured was 

 already nearly five years old. Weinland's detailed description of its 

 external characters and his excellent figure, drawn and colored from the 

 living animal, form the first definite information recorded in reference to 

 the Mexican Coati. The species, however, is wrongly referred to Prinz 

 Maximilian's Nasua soUtaria^ and although the author in his general 

 history of the subject refers to von Tschudi's JSFasua leucorhyncJius, he 

 failed to perceive that the example he here describes represented that 

 species as well as the old Linnsean Viverra narica. 



De Saussure, in 1862,t recognized two species from Mexico under the 

 names Nasua sociaUs and Xasua soUtaria , which, he says, bear respect- 

 ively the native names "Tejon de manada" and "Tejonsolo!" Both 

 are referable to the Nasua leucorliynchus of von Tschudi (= Viverra narica^ 

 Linne). He seems to have made here the same mistake respecting the 

 Coatis of Mexico that Prinz Maximilian made in reference to those of 

 Brazil, namely, that of describing the old males as a distmct species, 

 adopting for it Maximilian's name soUtaria, and retaining the same 

 author's name soeiaUs for the younger males and females ; but the two 

 supposed species to which De Saussure gave these names are not the 

 two so named by Maximilian. 



Von Prantzius, in 1869, Stated | that the specimens collected by him 

 in Costa Eica had been determined by Professor Peters to be the Xasiia 

 leucorliynchus of von Tschudi. He says that two species are recognized 

 in Costa Eica under the names "Pisote solo" and "Pisote de manada," 

 which are respectively the " einsame Eiisselbar" {Xasua soUtaria, auct.) 

 and the " gesellige Eiisselbar {JSf. sociaUs, auct.). But he says that all 

 of the Costa Eican specimens that he had examined belonged to Xasua 

 Jeucorhynchus, and he thinks it therefore i)robable that only this spe- 

 cies occurs there, and that the so-called "geselhgen Elisselbaren " are 

 only the young and females of W. leucorliynclius, and not the N. sociaUs. 

 Consequently he believes that IF. leucorliynchus may be considered as the 

 only representative of the genus in the ]!?}"orthern Tropics, and that X. 

 sociaUs is restricted to the Southern Tropics. He further notes that the 

 coloration of the Costa Eican species is very variable, the young being- 

 browner and the old animals more varied with blackish and white. 



Hensel, in 1869, in his " Beitriige ziu" Kenntniss der Thierwelt Bra- 



* Zoologisclie Garten, Jalirg. i, 1860, -p. 189. 



t Zoologisclie Garten, Jahrg. lii, 1862, pp. 53, 56. 



t Arch, fiir Natnrg., 1869, i, pp. 292-294. 



