334 BULLETIlSr UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. [Yol.Y. 



erne Art dieser Gattimg, Bassaris astuta, aus Mexico bekannt, der icli 

 eine zAveite aus Centralamerica liinzuftigen kann." Tet he notes among 

 the distinctive characters of B. variahilis most of those especiallj^ men- 

 tioned by De Saussure as characterizing B. sumichrasti, omitting, how- 

 ever, some, and adding others not mentioned by De Saussure. Peters's 

 B. variahilis was based on a skin and skull of a very old male, and on 

 a second skin supposed to be that of a female, all of which he figured. 



Almost simultaneously with the jjublication of Dr. Peters's paper, 

 Senor Cordero again described (La ISTaturaleza, iii, p. 270, with a plate; 

 the paper is dated Dec. 1, 1874, and was published May 31, 1875) B. 

 sumichrasti, under the name Bassaris monticola. His description is very 

 detailed, and in his comparison of B. monticola with B. astuta he brings 

 into strong relief the distinctive characters of the two species, they 

 embracing all those i^reviously mentioned by De Saussure and Peters 

 as characterizing respectively B. sumichrasti and B. variahilis. He 

 gives also excellent comparative (colored) figures of the external charac- 

 ters of the two species, and illustrates the cranial characters and denti- 

 tion of B. monticola. Although he sho"^s himself to have been perfectly 

 conversant with the two species of Bassaris, he appears not to have 

 been aware that his B. monticola had been previously described and 

 named by De Saussure. 



Dr. Gray in 18b4 (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1864, 512) and in 1869 (Cat. 

 Cam. Pachyd. and Edent. Mam., 1869, 246) gave a " var. fulvescens," 

 adding, "Fur more fulvous, perhaps of a different season." To his 

 ^^ Bassaris astuta Yur.fulvescens^' he referred unqualifiedly De Saussure's 

 B. sumichrasti. His description of the cranial characters seems to indi- 

 cate that he had before him only skulls of J>. astuta. 



From the foregoing it will be seen that the large southern species of 

 Bassaris has been thrice described as new; that the skull has been figured 

 twice ; and that one plain and three colored (Dr. Peters gives two) figures 

 of the animal have been given. 



DIFFERENTIAL CHAEACTEES OF THE SPECIES. 



The external and cranial characters of the Bassarids are so well known 

 that it is unnecessary in the i)resent connection to give them in detail 

 further than is necessary to the elucidation of the distinctive features of 

 the two species, which, so far as at present known, constitute the genus 

 Bassaris. They are, as is well known, in general appearance small fox- 

 hke animals, with soft, loose pelage, pointed nose and ears, and a ringed 

 tail as Ipng as the body, giving a tout ensemhle intermediate, on the one 

 hand, between the Coatis and Eaccoons, and the Foxes on the other, but 

 of smaller size than either. The distinctive characters of the species are 

 indicated in the subjoined diagnoses. 



Synopsis of the Species. 



COMMOX Chaeacters. — Tail with tlie liairs about equal to or a little longer tlian 

 tlie Jiead and body. Color above gray, more or less suffused with yellowisb-brown, 



