492 General Notes. [ August, 
On pages 370 and 371 he figures and describes the earlier embryos 
as having “ three branchial appendages on each side of the head. Ina 
later stage the external branchie had disappeared, but a small branchial 
fissure was detected on each side of the neck, and within this on each 
side a series of fringed branchial arches.” 
Wyman’s figures are evidently enlarged, and he gives no measure- 
ments of the embryos. But his figures and descriptions are explicit, 
and I am not aware that any statement by him has ever been found — 
to be incorrect. 
In view, however, of the passage above quoted from Nature I have 
endeavored to obtain confirmation of Wyman’s statement. On examin- 
ing two embryos from cells upon a Pipa presented to me by Dr. J. B. S. 
Jackson, I found them very ill preserved. They measured fourteen mm. 
from tip to tip, and I could find no trace of branchie internal or external. 
College of Harvard University. The examination was made by Mr. 
C. S. Minot, who reports as follows : — 
“ I have examined two eggs from the back of the Pipa, and found the 
embryos a little more advanced than that figured by Professor Wyman; 
they are between twelve and thirteen mm. in length. The gills were 
partly absorbed, but a single slit with the gills still projecting could be 
readily seen on each side at the back of the head. I could not make 
a more detailed examination, as the eggs were not well enough pre- 
served.” 
We may conclude, then, pending the extended examination of a series 
of perfectly preserved embryos, that the Pipa does possess external 
branchiz at a certain period before hatching. — Burt G. WILDER. 
MAMMALS NEW TO THE Unirep States Fauna. —I am desired by 
Dr. J. C. Merrill, U. S. A., to record the capture by him at Fort Brown, 
Texas, of two species of Mammals not previously found in the United 
States. One of these is the Felis yaguarundi, and the other is a species 
of Nasua. : 
Felis yaguarundi was introduced into our fauna in 1857, by Professor 
Baird, in his Mammals of North America, his material consisting of a 
skull collected by Dr. Berlandier at Matamoras, Mexico. It was then 
first recognized as an inhabitant of the valley of the Lower Rio Grande, 
_ but it is only now actually taken in United States territory. It is de- 
scribed as larger than the common house-cat, and more elongated in all 
its proportions, with the tail as long as the body exclusive of the head, 
and the prevailing color a continuous grizzled: brownish-gray without any 
spots. An extended account is given in the Mexican Boundary Report, 
vol. ii. pt. ii., page 12 (1859). The skin which Dr. Merrill has trans- 
mitted to the Smithsonian was obtained from a Mexican who shot the ant- 
mal a few miles from Fort Brown, Texas. “ Last summer,” writes Dr- 
