PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE MAMMALS OF NEW YORK 355 



1882 Procyon lotor Merriam, Linn. soc. New York. Trans, i : 91. 

 1896 Procyon lotor Fisher, The Observer. May 1896. 7 : 200. 

 1898 Procyon lotor Mearns, U. S. Nat. mus. Proc. 21 : 357. 



Type locality. Northeastern United States. 



Faunal position. Austral zones, transition zone and southern border 

 of Canadian zone. 



Habitat. Forests. 



Distribution in JVew York. The raccoon occurs throughout the state. 

 It is probably one of the mammals whose range has been very little 

 changed by the clearing of the country. 



Principal records. De Kay : "The raccoon is found all over North 

 America" ('42, p. 27). Merriam: '-Raccoons are common every- 

 where about the borders of the Adirondacks, but they do not like 

 dense evergreen forests and are therefore rather rare in the interior, 

 still they are occasionally met in all parts of the wilderness " ('82, p. 91). 

 Fisher: "Common [near Sing Sing]. Found everywhere but more com- 

 monly in the swamps and along streams" ('96, p. 200). Mearns: 

 "Tracks of the raccoon were seen in several places on or near Schoharie 

 creek" ('98, p. 357). 



I have found the raccoon common at Peterboro, Madison co. 



Mr Savage writes : "The raccoon is common in Erie co." 



Of this animal Mr Helme writes : "The raccoon is still quite common 

 in most of the less thickly settled districts of Long Island." 



Phoca vitulina Linnaeus Harbor seal 

 1758 [Phoca] vitulina Linnaeus, Syst. nat. Ed. 10. 1 : 38. 

 1842 Phoca concolor De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia, p. 53 

 1882 Phoca vitulina Merriam, Linn soc. New York. Trans. 1 : 104. 

 1896 Phoca vitulina Fisher, The Observer. May 1896. 7 : 200 

 1898 Phoca vitulina Mearns, Am. mus. nat. his. Bui. 9 Sep. 1898. 

 10 : 346. 



Type locality. Coast of Europe. 



Distribution in New York. The harbor seal occurs regularly in Long 

 Island sound and in the lower Hudson river. It also reaches the north- 

 ern border of the state by way of the St Lawrence river, and on one 

 occasion an individual penetrated as far into the interior a,s Onondaga 

 lake. 



Principal records. De Kay : " They are now comparatively rare in our 

 waters, but were formerly very abundant ... At some seasons even at 

 the present day they are very numerous, particularly about the Execution 



