GENERAL NOTES 
89 
Fells grifithii, both by Fischer in 1830. Variety No. 2 was renamed smithii and 
No. 3 canescens by Swainson in 1838 (Anim. in Menag., pp. 120-121). Smith 
expressed the opinion, unsupported by any direct evidence, that Nos. 1 and 2 
were South American and Nos. 3 and 4 Mexican. The names based on them 
have been allocated largely on the strength of this statement as to localities for 
the descriptions and figures offer little in the determination of forms known to 
be variable and at best only subspecifically separable. Thus Allen has regarded 
the two names based on Nos. 1 and 2 as South American and synonymous, recog- 
nizing chibigouazou, the earlier one, and placing hamiltoni as a synonym of it. 
In dealing with the Mexican ones, however, he has recognized two forms {griffithii 
and pardalis) representing Smith’s Nos. 3 and 4. In this he was doubtless in- 
fluenced by the grayish color ascribed to Smith’s specimen of No. 3. In view 
of the great variability in the group, as fully noted by Allen, and in consideration 
of the nature of the case, which is not one of distinct species but of intergrading 
subspecies of which even actual specimens may be difficult to determine, it would 
seem desirable to place griffithii as a synonym of pardalis on much the same 
grounds that hamiltoni is placed under chibigouazou. By so doing, albescens, 
which is already well established for the form of northeastern Mexico and the 
south-central United States, would be retained. 
Even the recognition of chibigouazou seems open to question, for at least two 
earlier names of possible pertinency are to be considered. These are Felis mar- 
aqua Link, 1795 (Beytr. Zook, 2, p. 91) and Lynx brasiliensis Oken, 1816 (Lehrb. 
Naturg., Zook, 3, p. 1050). The first is described as follows: ‘‘F, maraqua, 
cauda elongata, corpore luteo, dorso nigro striato, lateribus nigro-maculatis.” 
The word maraqua, used by Link as a specific name, seems to be a variant of one 
of the Brazilian names for cats of the pardalis group; therefore, it carries the 
implication that the description was derived from some -previous account of one 
of these animals. However, the source of the name is not indicated otherwise 
and the description itself is so brief and so generalized that it might apply to 
any of several species. Like many other names, it is not wholly unidentifiable, 
for at least it refers to a South American spotted cat. It may therefore, be 
synonymized with any definitely identifiable earlier name for such a cat, as for 
example, Felis tigrina Schreber, 1777. To attempt to establish it in use would 
only be justified in case it was the earliest name applied to any cat having 
the characters mentioned. 
Turning to Oken’s name Lynx brasiliensis, we find a description of consider- 
able detail with measurements and association with the native name mbaracaya. 
Although the source of this native name is not cited by Oken, the large use which 
he has made of Azara’s work on the quadrupeds of Paraguay in other cases makes 
it probable that the name was obtained from that work. The probability is 
greatly strengthened by comparison of Oken’s description and Azara’s text which 
show numerous points of similarity. There is nothing in Oken’s description 
which cannot be found in Azara except the measurement of total length, given 
as 22 inches, an obvious error, probably a misprint for 42 inches, the dimension 
given by Azara. The tail length of 13 inches is given by both authors. The 
evidence is thus convincing that Oken’s brasiliensis was based on Azara, who 
states definitely (Quad. Paraguay, 1, p. 152, 1801) that the mbaracaya is the 
same as the chibigouazou. Hence the technical name chibigouazou should be 
supplanted by brasiliensis. 
