^0.3.] ALLEN ON THE GENUS BASSARIS. 339 



Of two specimens taken at Teliuantepec, January 15, 1809, and 

 labelled by the collector (Prof. F. Suniicbrast) as found in coifu, the 

 male is much the larger, grayisb-brown above, varied Avitb bbiek, and 

 strongly suffused witb fulvous posteriorly ; below, pale yellow ; terminal 

 third of the tail whollj'^ black; the bght rings are gray; length of head 

 and body 19^ in. ; tail-vertebraj 20 in. ; tail to end of hairs 22 in. The 

 female is much purer gray above, with only a slight suffusion of brown- 

 ish-fulvous posteriorly ] below, pale yellow ; the light rings of the tail 

 whitish-gray; length of head and body 15^ in.; tail-vertebrne 18 in.; 

 tail to end of hairs 20 in. Another male from the same locality, col- 

 lected in Marchj 1872, agrees very nearly in color with the male already 

 described, but is rather less strongly suffused with brownish-fulvous ; 

 the light tail-rings are grayish-white, and only the terminal lifth of the 

 tail is wholly black. Another example (sex unknown) from Mirador 

 (Dr. Sartorius) is much darker dorsally throughout, where the i)revaiiing 

 tint is decidedly black, the light tail-rings are narrower and more in- 

 distinct, and the terminal third of the tail is wholly black. The black 

 prevails on the tail to such an extent that above the light rings are well 

 defined only toward the base of the tail. Two specimens from La 

 Palma, Costa Eica, collected in December, 187G (J. C. Zeledon), differ 

 very little from the last, excei)t that the light rings of the tail are more 

 distinct and whitish-gray. 



It will thus be seen that B. sumichrasti is considerably larger than B. 

 astuta, darker or more blackish in color, with a relatively longer tail, on 

 which the light annulations are narrower, rather more numerous, and 

 unbroken below, where they are merely a little narrower flian they are 

 on the upper suiface. The ears are broader, less pointed, and about 

 one-fifth shorter than in B. astuta, notwithstanding the smaller size of 

 the last-named species. 



Dr. Duges, in some remarks appended to Cordero's description of his 

 B. monticola, rather questions the imiiortance of some of the characters 

 given by Cordero as distinguishing J5. monticola from B. astuta, especially 

 the grooving of the incisors, stating that they are to be found also in 

 young examples of B. astuta, and that they are features that probably 

 disappear with age. Dr. Duges's remarks resjiecting other characters, 

 as well as this, show that he has evidently confounded the two species. 

 In respect to the trilobed border of the incisors, which Cordero refers 

 to as having " la figura de una lior de lis," I may say that I have been 

 unable to find any traces of this character in wholly unworn teeth of B. 

 astuta, while in B. sumichrasti it persists in the very oldest specimens, 

 and is even present in one example in which the teeth are all very nnich 

 worn and some of the incisors are broken off, the two or three remaining 

 incisors still showing the grooves and the resulting lobed cutting-edge. 



Geographical Distribution. — IS'either De Sanssure, Peters, nor 

 Cordero state definitely the localities whence their specimens of this 

 animal were received. De Saussure gives mereiy •' Mexique, and Peters 



