A'0.2.] ALLEX ON THE GENUS NASUA. 167 



])robably unlmown to them,* Buffoii's figure, as well as Lis and Bris- 

 sou's descriptions, leave uo reasonable doubt tliat the name nayica was 

 based on the Mexican Coati.t By writers of the first quarter of the pres- 

 ent century, the present species was virtually lost sight of, for, although 

 the name narica was more or less generally retained, it was applied to 

 a nominal species referable to the Linna?an Viverra nasua. Fischer, 

 while referring all the Coatis to one species, for which he adopted Max- 

 imilian's name Nasua socialis, wisely separated the references to the two 

 valid species under the varietal names rtifa and fusca, and under these 

 heads made a judicious allocation of the synonyms of the group. The 

 first possible synonym is the " f Nasua nocturna'^ of Maximilian (182G), 

 based on an imperfect skin and the reports of the native hunters. He 

 says the tail shows no color-rings, but has the same mingling of tints as 

 the upper part of the body.t It has, however" the matter of locality 

 against it, as well as the "fahl gelbrothliche Farbe" of the lower parts. 

 He refers especially to its soft thick pelage, which corresponds well 

 enough with that of the present species, but it may not be a Nasua at 

 all, as he was himself in doubt as to whether it was really this genus, and 

 as no subsequent explorer appears to have met with a Nasua in Eastern 

 Brazil having the tail colored uniformly with the back. 



Yon Tschudi, however, in 1844-4:6, described a Nasua leiicorliynchus 

 which good authorities have since identified with the Mexican Coati. His 

 diagnosis (''K rostro albo, cauda corporis longitudiue, concolore in 

 adultis"), as well as his whole description, relates unquestionably to this 

 form, which alone can be described as having a white nose and uuicol- 

 ored tail. He appears to have based his excellent description of the 

 species upon an examination of quite a number of examples, as he 

 alludes distinctly to young as well as adult specimens, and refers to vari- 

 ous features of individual variation, and evinces a thorough knowledge 

 of the species. He gives its habitat as the interior of Brazil, remark- 



*Brisson says of Ms specimen, " Je Fai vu cliez M. Lievre Distillateur," without of- 

 foriug even a conjecture as to the country Avhence it came. Buiion simply tells us 

 that the original of his Coati, figured in pi. xlvii, and of which is given a detailed ac- 

 count of the anatomy as well as a figure of the skeleton (in pi. xlis), is a specimen he 

 had had alive, and that he had seen another Coati, of which he also gives a descrip- 

 tion and figures (pi. xlviii) as -'Le Coati brun," without informing us whence either 

 was obtained. The last is unquestionably the Mexican Coati. 



tThis species appears to have been thoroughly well known to Schreber, as his whole 

 account most emphatically shows, in evidence of which, but especially from its 

 historic interest, I transcribe the following from his account of V. narica: "Die 

 Schnauze, Lippen und Kehle weislich. . . . Der Kopf, Hals und Leib graubraun: 

 so auch der Schwanz, der, besonders unterwarts, undeutliche dunklere Kiuge hat ; 

 die uutero Seite des Halses, die Schultern, Brust und der Bauch weislich ; der Eaum 

 zwischen den Hinterschenkeln fast gelb. Jedes Haar ist in der Mitte schwarz, an der 

 Spitze gelbbraun. . . . Das Vaterland ist slidliche Ainerika. . . . Nach 

 Enropa kommt es weit soltener, als das rothe [ F. nasuay — Sawjt., Th. iii, p. 438. 



± ''Der Schwanz zeigt keinc farblichen Ringe, sondern ist von dersclbeu Mischuug 

 wie die obcren Theile des Kiirpers." 



