PHOCYON. 243 



Var. 1. melanus; nearly black. 



Procyon obscurus, Wiegm. Arch. iii. p. 370 ; Schreb. Suppl. 1. 142 D. 

 Var. 2. albina. 



Meles alba, Brkson, Mgne An. i. p. 265. 



Ursiis meles alba, Erxl. Syst. p. 164. 



Procyon nivea, Gray, Mag. Nat Hist, i, p. 680, 1837. 

 Hab. America : Mexico ( Capt. Lyon). 



General colour greyish white ; the tips of the long hairs black, 

 imparting this colour to the back ; under-fur black -brown ; a large 

 oblique black patch on the cheek, continuous with a paler one beneath 

 the jaw ; another behind the ears ; end of the muzzle, except the 

 upper liae, together with the portion on the border of the cheek- 

 patch, whitish ; tail not tapering, with tip and four annuU black, 

 these as broad as the rusty- white interspaces ; hind feet not exceed- 

 ing 4 inches, above dirty whitish ; fore feet not exceeding 2| inches. 

 Varies in being nearly black, with the markings obscured ; some- 

 times more or less yellowish or white, with obsolete markings or 

 none — a decided tendency to albinism (Baird, I. c. p. 201). 



Var. 3. Feet black, rather large.— G'raj/, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 705. 



Procyon Hernandesii, Wagner, Isis, xxix. p. 514, 1833 ; Wiegm. Arch. 

 iii. p. 367 ; Baird, Mamm. N. Amer. p. 216. 



Hah. Mexico. 

 Var. 4. 



Procyon Hernandesii, var. mexicana, Baird, Mamm. N. A. p. 215. 

 Var. 5. Yellowish; cheek-patch small. — Qray, P. Z. S. 1864, 

 p. 705. 



Procyon psora, Oray, Ann. 8f Mag. N. H. 1842, p. 261 ; Voy. Sidphur, 

 pi. 9 & 17 ; Cat. Mamm. B. M. p. 38 ; Baird, Mamm. N. A. p. 215 ; 

 Wiegm. Arch. 1848, p. 2. 

 Raccoon, CooKs Voyage (?) ; Richardson, Beechey's Voy. p. 4. no. 10. 

 Talyocoyth, Hemand. Mex. p. 12. no. 37 (?). 



Hah. Sacramento. CaUed " Psora." 



This species varies rather in the tint of its colours in the different 

 parts of North America. It is very apt to become white, and is the 

 Procyon nivea (Gray, Mag. N. Hist. 1837, p. i. 580) from Texas. 

 Wagner, in 1833, described the Mexican variety, which sometimes 

 has black feet, as P. Hernandesii (Isis, xxix. p. 514) ; I described a 

 specimen from California, with the tail injured, as P. psora (Ann. & 

 Mag. N. H. 1842) ; and Wiegmann described two other varieties 

 under the names of P. hrachyurus and P. obscurus (Arch. iii. p. 369). 

 Dr. Baird, in the ' Mammals of North America,' considers P. Her- 

 nandesii as pedes, and calls it the black -footed Procyon, including 

 P. psora, which has feet as pale or paler than P. lotor. 



The skulls vary considerably in the width and concavity of the 

 palate ; in some the width is half the length to the end of the tooth- 

 line, in others less than half the length. In general there is only 

 a single large suborbital perforation ; but in specimen d there are 

 two small weU-separated pores. 



b2 



