BULLETIN

OF THE

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES.

VOLUME V.

1879.

NUMBER 3.

Art. XVIII.-On the Species of the Genus Bassaris.*

By J. A. Allen.

The mammals of the genus Bassaris were for a long time a puzzle to the systematists, who, however, generally referred them to the Viverridæ, as constituting the only American representatives of the family. Some authors, as Gervais, while believing that they were Viverrine, have seen in them some affinities with the Mustelida, while others, as Waterhouse and Turner, have hinted at an Ursine alliance, especially to such forms as Procyon and Nasua. Professor Flower,† who has especially investigated the affinities of Bassaris, concludes: "On the whole I think there can be little question that evidence has been adduced to prove that Bassaris is a member of the Arctoid sub-division of the Carnivora, and among these approaches most nearly to Procyon and Nasua" (1. c., p. 34). Dr. Gill, in 1872,‡ assigned it the rank of a family (Bassaridida) of the Arctoidea, and a position at the end of the group, following Procyonidæ.

GENERAL HISTORY.

Although the Bassarids are of common occurrence throughout Mexico, and range also far both to the southward and northward of that country, and were known to Hernandez as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, they escaped the notice of systematic writers till within the last half century. The first modern account of them was pub

*The material on which the present paper is based is almost exclusively that of the National Museum, for the free use of which I am indebted to its able director, Prof. Spencer F. Baird.

On the Value of the Characters of the Base of the Cranium in the Classification of the Order Carnivora, and on the Systematic Position of Bassaris and other disputed forms. By William Henry Flower, F. R. S., F. Z. S., etc., Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1869, pp. 4-37.-Bassaris is treated at pp. 31-34, which see for a fuller history of the views of systematists respecting its affinities.

Arrangement of the Families of Mammals, p. 67.

Bull. v, 3-1

331

lished by Lichtenstein in 1830, based on specimens sent from Mexico by Herr Deppe, in 1826 and subsequent years, of what proves to have been the northern form of the genus. This Lichtenstein, in his commentary on the mammals noticed by Hernandez,* named and briefly described Bassaris astuta, he recognizing in it the Cacamiztli, or Caca-mixtli, of Hernandez, which the latter also mentioned under the name Tepe-maxtla. These are still the common native names of the species, and mean respectively "Rush Cat" and "Bush Cat." Shortly after B. astuta was more fully described by Lichtenstein, and also figured.†

During the next thirty years, the habits of Bassaris astuta were referred to by different writers, and the species repeatedly described and figured, the illustrations including colored figures of the animal and representations of the skull, skeleton, and dentition. The notices of Bassaris published prior to 1860 all relate, singularly enough, exclusively to B. astuta, at which date the second or southern species (B. sumichrasti) was first described.

Professor Baird, writing in 1858 (Mam. N. Amer., p. 147), says: "It is as yet uncertain whether America possesses one or two species of Bassaris, further investigation being necessary to determine the character of the California species. They are found as far north as Red River, Arkansas, on the eastern slope of the continent; on the western to the latitude of San Francisco; southward they extend throughout temperate Mexico. They bear in the United States the name of civet, Mexican, or ring-tailed cats, and are frequently tamed in Mexico and California; in the latter country they are great pets of the miners." He adds: "Only one authenticated skin, (No. 2343,) has been received from California; this is a hunter's skin, not sufficiently perfect to furnish a description." The following year Professor Baird described (Rep. U. S. and Mex. Bound. Surv., Mam., pp. 18, 19), under the name Bassaris astuta, two specimens from Texas and another from an unknown locality, supposed to have come from California, naming the latter provisionally Bassaris raptor. His detailed account of the external features of the Texas specimens indicate very fairly the northeastern phase of Bassaris astuta. Respecting the specimen to which the name B. raptor was provisionally given, he says: "In the spring of 1852 (April 23), a specimen of * Erläuterungen der Nachrichten des Fran. Hernandez von den vierfüssigen Thieren Neuspaniens. Abhandlungen d. Berlin. Akad. 1827 (1830), pp. 89–128.—Bassaris astuta is described and named at p. 119. The paper was read before the academy in 1827, but not published till 1830.

The genus Bassaris and the species B. astuta were also described by Wagler in the "Isis" for 1831 (p. 511), one year subsequent to the publication of Lichtenstein's above-cited paper, both being accredited by him to Lichsenstein; yet various writers have attributed the earliest notice of B. astuta to Wagler.

+ Darstellung neuer oder weniger bekannter Säugethiere in Abbildungen und Beschreibungen von fünfundsechzig Arten, 1827-1834, pl. xliii.

See posteà, table of reference under B. astuța. The skeleton has been figured by Gervais and De Blainville, the dentition by Blainville and Giebel, the skull by Lichtenstein, Baird, and Flower, and the animal by Lichtenstein, Wagner, Audubon and Bachman, Wolf and Sclater, and Cordero.

Bassaris was killed in a hen-roost, near Washington, after it had committed great devastation among the poultry of the neighborhood. It had evidently escaped from confinement, as shown by the marks of a collar around the neck. There was, of course, no indication whence it came originally, but it was supposed to have been brought from California. This specimen is somewhat different from those obtained in Mexico and Texas, although perhaps not specifically distinct. The tail is strikingly different in having the black rings fewer in number and of much greater extent compared with the white portion. Of these black rings there are only five distinctly marked ones besides the tip, and the last or subterminal one is more than two inches long instead of about one. Below the black ring is nearly complete, separated only for the thickness of the vertebræ by the white of the under surface. There is no appreciable difference in the colors of the remaining portions of the body. The ears are decidedly smaller. Very considerable differences are discernible between the skull of this specimen and the others; the cranium is broader, but more constricted behind the orbital processes of the frontal bone; the distance between the zygomata is considerably greater, and the temporal crests of opposite sides much closer together. The pterygoid bones, also, are further apart. The proportion of greatest breadth of skull to length is as 63 to 100 instead of 59, as in No. 4 [female], from Texas. Should the examination of further specimens show these distinctions to be such as to indicate a different species, it might be called Bassaris raptor." In passing, I may add that the examination of more material shows that the cranial differences here indicated are not important, and show mainly only the usual variations accompanying differences of age in Bassaris astuta. The color of the tail very nearly coincides with that of a specimen before me from Oregon, with which it so much more nearly agrees than with Texas examples that I have little doubt that the supposed Californian origin of Bassaris raptor is its correct locality. The wide separation of the pterygoid bones is certainly exceptional, but is probably strictly individual, as I find a perfectly parallel variation in this highly variable feature in the skulls of B. sumichrasti. Consequently in Bassaris raptor we have the earliest synonym of B. astuta.

In 1860, M. De Saussure described and figured (Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 2o sér., xii, Jan., 1860, p. 7, pl. i, animal, fig. uncolored), a second species, under the name Bassaris sumichrasti, based on a single very old individual collected by himself in Mexico. Although De Saussure's description is explicit and detailed, and notwithstanding that in his careful comparison of the new species with B. astuta (of which he had a large suite representing all ages), he clearly set forth all the leading points of difference, Dr. Peters, in 1874 (Monatsb. der k. Akad. der Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1874, p. 704, pll. i, ii, meeting of Nov. 16, 1874), referred B. sumichrasti of De Saussure doubtfully to B. raptor, Baird, at the same time redescribing B. sumichrasti under the name Bassaris variabilis. At all events, he says: "Es war bis jetzt mit Sicherheit nur

eine Art dieser Gattung, Bassaris astuta, aus Mexico bekannt, der ich eine zweite aus Centralamerica hinzufügen kann." Yet he notes among the distinctive characters of B. variabilis most of those especially mentioned by De Saussure as characterizing B. sumichrasti, omitting, however, some, and adding others not mentioned by De Saussure. Peters's B. variabilis was based on a skin and skull of a very old male, and on a second skin supposed to be that of a female, all of which he figured.

Almost simultaneously with the publication of Dr. Peters's paper, Señor Cordero again described (La Naturaleza, iii, p. 270, with a plate; the paper is dated Dec. 1, 1874, and was published May 31, 1875) B. sumichrasti, under the name Bassaris monticola. His description is very detailed, and in his comparison of B. monticola with B. astuta he brings into strong relief the distinctive characters of the two species, they embracing all those previously mentioned by De Saussure and Peters as characterizing respectively B. sumichrasti and B. variabilis. He gives also excellent comparative (colored) figures of the external characters of the two species, and illustrates the cranial characters and dentition of B. monticola. Although he shows himself to have been perfectly conversant with the two species of Bassaris, he appears not to have been aware that his B. monticola had been previously described and named by De Saussure.

Dr. Gray in 1864 (Proc. Zoöl. Soc. Lond., 1864, 512) and in 1869 (Cat. Carn. Pachyd. and Edent. Mam., 1869, 246) gave a "var. fulvescens," adding, "Fur more fulvous, perhaps of a different season." To his "Bassaris astuta var. fulvescens" he referred unqualifiedly De Saussure's B. sumichrasti. His description of the cranial characters seems to indicate that he had before him only skulls of B. astuta.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the large southern species of Bassaris has been thrice described as new; that the skull has been figured twice; and that one plain and three colored (Dr. Peters gives two) figures of the animal have been given.

DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS OF THE SPECIES.

The external and cranial characters of the Bassarids are so well known that it is unnecessary in the present connection to give them in detail further than is necessary to the elucidation of the distinctive features of the two species, which, so far as at present known, constitute the genus Bassaris. They are, as is well known, in general appearance small foxlike animals, with soft, loose pelage, pointed nose and ears, and a ringed tail as long as the body, giving a tout ensemble intermediate, on the one hand, between the Coatis and Raccoons, and the Foxes on the other, but of smaller size than either. The distinctive characters of the species are indicated in the subjoined diagnoses.

Synopsis of the Species.

COMMON CHARACTERS.-Tail with the hairs about equal to or a little longer than the head and body. Color above gray, more or less suffused with yellowish-brown,

with a wash of black of variable amount, produced by the black tips or the longer hairs, usually strongest along the middle of the back; below whitish, tinged more or less strongly with pale yellow. Eyes narrowly encircled with brownish-black. Behind and above each eye a large, sometimes rather indistinct, spot of yellowishgray, and a smaller spot of the same color below each eye. Tail with alternating rings of white or grayish-white and black, and black at the tip. The usual number of rings of either color varies from 7 to 9. The females are considerably smaller than the males.

B. astuta.

Ears rather narrow and pointed. Soles and palms with short soft hair on the edges and at the base of the toes between the naked pads.

Upper surface of the feet slightly or not at all blackish.

Light rings of the tail broad, pure white, or sometimes slightly grayish- or yellowishwhite, nearly as broad as the intervening black ones. The black rings are divided below by a more or less broad mesial band of white, running nearly the whole length of the tail, the lower surface of which is white, broadly scalloped on the edges with black.

Anterior surface of upper incisors smooth, the cutting-edge even.

First upper molar with both limbs longer and narrower than in B. sumichrasti, the inner with two distinct cusps, and another on the posterior outer edge of the tooth.

Second upper molar with the transverse diameter, compared with the antero-posterior, relatively greater than in B. sumichrasti.

Last lower premolar with a small accessory cusp on the posterior border.

Canines and whole dental armature relatively weaker, the molars narrower, and their cusps sharper and more numerous than in B. sumichrasti, in specimens of corresponding ages and degree of attrition of the teeth.

Auditory bullæ strongly inflated, spherical, the meatus auditorius very large.

Size less than in B. sumichrasti. Length of head and body 14 in. (?) to 17 in. (3); tail-vertebræ about 12 to 15; tail to end of hairs about equal to length of head and body. Skull, length 3.00 to 3.25; width 1.85 to 2.05.