VOL. XVII, PP. 151-152 OCTOBER 6, 1904 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON DESCRIPTIONS OF FOUR NEW BIRDS FROM MEXICO. BY E. W. NELSON. The birds described below were collected by Mr. E. A. Gold man during the spring and summer of 1904 while continuing the work of the Biological Survey in Mexico. Porzana gold man! sp. nov. MEXICAN YELLOW RAIL. Type No. 193,712, adult male, U.S. National Museum, Biological Sur vey Collection. From Lerma, Mexico. Collected July 11, 1904, by E. A. Goldman. Original No. 10,994. Geographic distribution. Known only from type locality in the Valley of Toluca, Mexico. Specific characters. Generally similar to P. noveboracensis but darker, the wings, flanks, and rump slaty blackish ; white markings on back in the form of transverse spots ; bill slenderer. Description of type. Superciliary stripe, sides of head and neck dark buffy mottled with narrow blackish edgings to feathers ; top of head and nape blackish obscurely streaked with narrow dingy huffy edges of feathers ; middle of shoulders streaked equally with black and rather dark buffy; sides of shoulders, scapulars and tertials mainly black edged with dark buffy ; the black middle of feathers marked with transverse oblong white spots (usually two on each feather) ; rump blackish with small white spots; primaries dark slaty; secondaries dark grayish with white areas as in noveboracensis ; wing coverts blackish with small rounded white spots ; chin and throat pale dull buffy shading on lower neck and breast into dark dull buffy with feathers on sides of breast tipped with dusky ; belly 27 PROC. BIOL. Soc. WASH. VOL. XVII, 1904. (151) 152 Kelson Descriptions of Fotir New Birds from Mexico. dull whitish ; sides of body, flanks, thighs, and crissum dull black with spots and bars of white. One specimen examined. Empidonax fulvifrons fusciceps subsp. nov. Type No. 193,713, adult male, U.S. National Museum, Biological Sur vey Collection. From Comitan, Chiapas, Mexico. Collected March 29, 1904, by E. A. Goldman. Original No. 10,625. Geographic distribution. Highlands of Chiapas and adjacent parts of Guatemala. Subspeciftc characters. In size and color of underparts like typical fulvi frons ; upperparts darker; crown much darker and strongly contrasted with back. Four specimens examined ; from Comitan, Teopisca, and Tenejapa, Chiapas. Arremenops superciliosus chiapensis subsp. nov. Type No. 193,714, adult male, U. S. National Museum, Biological Sur vey Collection. From San Bartolome, Chiapas, Mexico. Collected. March 15, 1904, by E. A. Goldman. Original No. 10,533. Geographic distribution. Valley of the Chiapas River, Chiapas. Subspecific characters. Much like Arremonops s. snmichrasti but top of head darker, the median stripe on crown darker and grayer ; back dark green as in typical superciliosus ; distribution of buffy on underparts as in Kumichrasti but color of a deeper or more creamy shade; size as in sumichrasti. Nine specimens examined. Telmatodytes palustris tolucensis subsp. nov. MEXICAN MARSH WUKN. Type No. 194,074, adult male, U. S. National Museum, Biological Sur vey Collection. From Lerma, Mexico. Collected July 5, 1904, by E. A. Goldman. Original No. 10,950. Geographic distribution. Known only from Tuluca Valley, Mexico. Sabspecific characters. Size less than in palustris; black dorsal area averages larger ; rufous of back brighter ; underparts much more reddish buffy. Description of type (in worn breeding plumage). Top of head blackish with traces of a brown median line ; middle of back black with well defined white shaft streaks; rump and upper tail coverts rich reddish brown; middle tail feathers dull grayish brown mottled with darker and indi stinctly barred with same basally ; underparts dull dark reddish buffy (including pectoral area) becoming dingy whitish on chin and throat and middle of abdomen. Measurements of type. Wing, 51 ; tail, 40; culmen, 12; tarsus, 20. Seven specimens examined, all from type locality. VOL. XVII, PP. 153-156 OCTOBER 6, 1904 PROCEEDINGS OP THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON FOUR NEW BEARS FROM NORTH AMERICA. BY C. HART MERRIAM. Notwithstanding the large number of bears already known from North America, four more appear to require recognition . Three of these are from Alaska ; the fourth is a small form of the Black Bear from the desert mountains of eastern Mexico. Ursus eulophus sp. nov. Type from Admiralty Island, southeastern Alaska. No. 81,102. Adult male. U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey Collection. 1896. Lieut. G. T. Emmons. Characters. Size large, equaling the Sitka bear ; color said to be very dark brown. Sagittal crest remarkably high anteriorly ; frontals extraor dinarily elevated posteriorly ; rather narrow interorbitally ; frontal shield long and high and in a single flat plane sloping strongly upward from an terior third of nasals almost to fronto-parietal suture (not decurved poste riorly) ; braincase narrowed and compressed anteriorly, passing gradually into sagittal crest ; rostrum rather narrow (as in horribilis, as contrasted with the broader sitkensis) ; maxillae long, reaching back into frontals to beyond plane of nasals ; interpterygoid fossa long and narrow ; molars larger than in the grizzlies, fully as large as in sitkensis ; lower carnassial slender, especially anteriorly ; nT2 narrower and less rectangular than in sitkensis; last lower premolar smaller and thinner than in sitkensis ; incisors small, as in horribilis (very much smaller than in sitkensis, particularly the outer incisor). 28 PROC. BIOL. Soc. WASH. VOL. XVII, 1904. (153) 154 Merriam Four New Bears from North America. Ursus kenaiensis sp. nov. Type from Cape Elizabeth, at extreme west end of Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. No. 128,672. Adult female. U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey Collection. 1903. C. A. Lambert. Characters. Size large ; skull broad, flat and remarkably massive, with exceedingly broad rostrum, not constricted at base, but spreading broadly into zygomata; zygomata broadly spreading; jugal very broad anteriorly ; frontals depressed, flattened, low posteriorly ; postorbital processes large, blunt, projecting horizontally outward from top of skull ; palate exceedingly broad; nasals large and broad; anterior nares rather small. Canines small (as in the grizzlies) ; incisors and molars large. From Ursus richard- soni, apparently its nearest relative, it may be distinguished at a glance by larger size, broader palate, and by the form of the temporal ridges, which do not turn abruptly inward behind the postorbital processes. From kidderi and phseonyx it differs in greater massiveness ; much broader ros trum, palate, and zygomata, and flatter 'frontals. Compared with kidderi the skull as a whole is shorter and broader ; the incisors and canines of approximately the same size. Compared with phaeonyx the skull is in every way larger, broader, and far more massive ; the canines are approxi mately the sam.e size ; the incisors larger. Ursus horribilis phseonyx subsp. nov. Type from Comet Creek (5 miles below head), a tributary of Forty Mile Creek, near Eagle, Alaska. No. 133,231. Old female. U. S. National Mu seum, Biological Survey Collection. July 12, 1903. W. H. Osgood. Orig inal No. 2684. Characters. Similar in general to U. horribilis, but claws shorter, more strongly curved, and dark blue-black [in horribilis long, flattish, and mainly white]. Ears rather short and densely haired on both sides. Color of skin dark brown. Color. Back and legs very dark brown, almost blackish brown ; tips of hairs on back where not worn off grizzled ; underparts and muzzle pale brown. Cranial and dental characters. Skull similar to that of horribilis, but zy gomata more spreading, muzzle broader and shorter, especially broad ante riorly; canines heavier; incisors decidedly larger. Measurements of longest (middle) claw of fore foot. Over curve, 93 mm.; from top of base to tip, 75 ; from bottom of base to tip, 55. Ursus americanus eremicus subsp. nov. Type from Sierra Guadalupe, Coahuila, Mexico. No. 116,952. Adult female. U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey Collection. April 21, 1902. E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman. Original No. 15,11 1. Cranial characters of female. Size and general characters as in amblyceps, but frontals in the female depressed instead of elevated, the face line (in Merriam Four New Bears from North America. 155 profile) continuing from end of nose almost to parietals, thus bringing highest part of cranium far back over braincase [in amblyceps the highest part is over orbits, on plane of postorbital processes] ; frontals flat [in amblyceps strongly convex, the sides decurved] ; nasals smaller, more wedge-shape, and straight or neaVly straight [in amblyceps the ante rior third is strongly upturned] ; rostrum more slender anteriorly ; anterior nares narrower ; occipitosphenoid length shorter ; canines more slender ; outer incisors decidedly smaller; upper molars slightly larger, more broadly and squarely truncate anteriorly [in amblyceps more rounded and retreat ing on inner side]. Naked nose pad very long ; ears rather long. Color. Black, the woolly underfur very dark brown; muzzle dark brown in type specimen (old female), but light brown, almost yellowish brown, in half-grown cub. Measurements (type specimen). Total length, 1,290 ; tail, 66; hind foot, 210. Remarks. I have not seen an adult male from Coahuila, but if the ani mal inhabiting the Davis Mountains, Texas, is the same, the old female has a remarkable skull, the nose strongly pugged, the frontals rising ab ruptly much higher than in amblyceps. OCR text unavailable for this page.VOL. XVII, PP. 157-158 OCTOBER 6, 1904 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW COYOTE FROM SOUTHERN MEXICO. BY C. HART MERRIAM. Among the specimens recently collected by E. A. Goldman in southern Chiapas, near the boundary of Guatemala, is an unde- scribed species of Coyote. It is much larger than any heretofore discovered in Mexico and may be known from the following description : Canis goldtnani sp. nov. Type from San Vicente, Chiapas, Mexico, near Guatemala border. No. 133,204. Adult female. U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey Collec tion. April 25, 1904. E.A.Goldman. Original No. 16,725. Characters. Size large largest of the Mexican species, larger than lestes and equal to latrans except that the rostrum is not so long. Color. Muzzle, top of head, ears, and legs fulvous; face grizzled grayish fulvous ; some black hairs in ears; back grizzled buffy gray and fulvous ; underfur pale fulvous, much paler than in vigilis or cagottis. Cranial characters. Muzzle rather broad ; postorbital processes strongly developed ; frontals deeply sulcate ; bullse very large, larger than in any known species ; very broad and flattened on outer side ; teeth large, those of female about as large as in male cagottis, except lower carnassial, which is decidedly smaller than in cngottis. Measurements (of type, adult female). Total length, 1,220 ; tail vertebrae, 355 ; hind foot, 216. 29 PROC. BIOL. Soc. WASH. VOL. XVII, 1904. (157) VOL. XVII, PP. 159-160 OCTOBER 6, 1904 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON A NEW SEA OTTER FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. BY C. HART MERRIAM. The Biological Survey has recently secured from Geo. M. McGuire, of Santa Barbara, the skeleton of an adult male sea otter killed July 2, 1904, on San Miguel Island, the most wes terly of the Santa Barbara or Channel Islands, California. Sea otters were formerly abundant on these islands, but are now exceedingly rare and believed to be rapidly approaching ex tinction. Comparison of the skull of this specimen with a series of skulls from Bering Sea (the type locality of lutris) shows the California animal to be a well-marked subspecies. It may be known from the following description : Latax lutris nereis subsp. nov. Type from San Miguel Island, Santa Barbara Islands, California. No. 133,508. Adult male. U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey Collec tion. July 2, 1904. Geo. M. McGuire. Cranial characters. Skull large, broad, and high, with long and high sagittal crest and swollen braincase. Compared with lutris the following differences appear: Skull as a whole less flattened, braincase more swollen and rounded, the sides (viewed from above), more convex and swollen, especially behind the constriction ; anterior part of zygomata more broadly and squarely expanded ; basioccipital forming an angle with basisphe- noid ; coronoid processes sloping strongly backward ; sagittal crest much higher and more decurved posteriorly ; inner cusp of large upper premo- lar (pm 3) elongated along anterior part of inner lobe (instead of conical) and showing a tendency to subdivide into two parts; 1st lower molar broader and more broadly truncate posteriorly. The specimen in the flesh measured 6 feet in length. 30-Pnoc. BIOL. Soc. WASH. VOL. XVII, 1904. (159)