An Annotated Check List of the Mammals of Michoacan, Mexico Part 4

_Remarks._--La Salada and three miles northwest of Patzcuaro are the two localities represented by actual specimens. A live animal, at night, was seen one mile east and four miles south of Tacambaro at 4,500 feet elevation. The young female from three miles northwest of Patzcuaro was trapped at a break in a stone fence.

Ring-tailed cats live in the stone walls, crevices and rocky ledges, around corn fields and pasture lands.

=Mustela frenata leucoparia= (Merriam)

Weasel; Spanish, Comadreja; Tarascan, Apasr or Apatzee (Apatz)

_Putorius frenatus leucoparia_ Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 11:29, June 30, 1896, type from Patzcuaro, Michoacan.

_Mustela frenata leucoparia_, Miller, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 79:100, December 31, 1912.

_Range._--Probably statewide.

_Specimens examined_, 6: in Biological Surveys Collection of U. S.

Nat. Mus., nos. 120304, 125972, 34914/47179, 36855/49239, and 34915/47180; 2014 B. Villa R., I.B., distributed as follows: Zamora, 1; Los Reyes, 1; Patzcuaro, 4.

_Remarks._--This subspecies of weasel is notable for having, among American weasels of any kind, the maximum amount of white on the head.

When collecting at Patzcuaro we saw no live specimens but were shown several from there that had been recently mounted by P. Luna. He regarded the animal as not especially rare.

=Spilogale angustifrons angustifrons= Howell

Spotted Skunk; Spanish, Zorrillo Manchado

_Spilogale angustifrons_ Howell, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 15:242, December 16, 1902, type from Tlalpam, D. F.

_Range._--Probably all of state except low coastal area.

_Specimen examined_, 1: no. 100126, 3 mi. NW Patzcuaro, 6,700 ft.

_Remarks._--The short tail of our specimen, an adult male, is noteworthy as perhaps also is the breadth between the orbits.

External measurements are 338, 101, 39. It weighed 308 grams.

Selected cranial measurements are: Basilar length, 44.1; zygomatic breadth, 32.4; postpalatal length, 26.6; least interorbital breadth, 13.8; height of cranium, 16.0. The specimen was trapped in a hole in a stone fence. Howell (1906:23), under the name _Spilogale gracilis_, recorded another male from Patzcuaro.

=Mephitis macroura macroura= Lichtenstein

Hooded Skunk; Spanish, Zorrillo or Mofeta Rayada; Tarascan, Cuitziqui (Kweetzeke)

_Mephitis macroura_ Lichtenstein, Darstellung Neuer oder wenig bekannter Saugethiere pl. 46, 1832, type from mountains northwest of Mexico City.

_Range._--Statewide.

_Specimens examined_, 12: nos. 100114-100125, distributed with reference to Patzcuaro, as follows: 3 mi. NW, 6,700 ft., 1; 2 mi. W, 7,600 and 7,000 ft., 2; 3-1/2 mi. S, 7,900 ft., 1; 4 mi. S, 7,800 ft., 2; 5 mi. S, 7,800 ft., 5; 9 mi. SE, 8,000 ft., 1.

_Remarks._--Skunk tracks were abundant in all localities around Patzcuaro. Most of our specimens were caught in steel traps, some along the edges of cornfields, others along the highway and along the pole fences. Tarascan friends at Colonia Revolucion were eager to have the bodies of the skunks which we caught. They regarded the skunks as a delicacy and told us that this food was reputed to be good for a person's blood and complexion.

=Conepatus mesoleucus nelsoni= Goldman

Hog-nosed Skunk; Spanish, Zorillo Real

_Conepatus mesoleucus nelsoni_ Goldman, Jour. Mamm., 3:41, February 8, 1922, type from Armeria (near Manzanillo), Colima, 200 ft. alt.i.tude.

_Range._--Probably greater part, or all, of state.

_Specimen examined_, 1: no. 52217, Tancitaro, 6,000 ft.

_Remarks._--The name _C. m. nelsoni_ is tentatively used for the single skin, which is without skull or indication of s.e.x.

=Urocyon cinereoargenteus colimensis= Goldman

Gray Fox; Spanish, Zorra Gris; Tarascan, c.u.mihuatz (c.u.mewatz)

_Urocyon cinereoargenteus colimensis_ Goldman, Jour.

Washington Acad. Sci., 28:495, November 15, 1938, type from 3 mi. W city of Colima, 1,700 ft. elevation.

_Range._--Statewide.

_Specimens examined_, 2: no. 100127, from 1 mi. E and 6 mi. S Tacambaro, 4,000 ft., and no. 51393 from Apatzingan.

_Remarks._--The female from southeast of Tacambaro, caught on March 20, 1943, had two embryos, 28 mm. in length. This female was trapped near a small stream. Goldman (1938:497) reported 7 specimens of _U. c.

colimensis_ from the following localities in the state: La Huacana, 1; La Salada, 2; Los Reyes, 1; Mount Tancitaro, 1; Patzcuaro, 2.

PLATE 4

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1. Panoramic view of Lake Patzcuaro.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2. Stuffed skins, in dorsal view, of 6 males of _Mephitis macroura macroura_, all trapped within a radius of 5 miles of Patzcuaro, to show the amount of individual variation in color-pattern. 1/10. Photo by W. C. Matthews.]

PLATE 5

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1. Ungrazed pasture with oaks on slope of El Estribo, 7,700 feet elevation, two miles west of the town of Patzcuaro, Michoacan. Several species of rodents, _Liomys_, _Sigmodon_, and _Peromyscus_ were taken abundantly in the gra.s.s in the immediate foreground. Photo March 16, 1943, by Mary F. Hall.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2. Xerophitic vegetation, eleven miles west of Zamora, Michoacan. 5,750 feet elevation, where rodents were trapped. Photo March 26, 1943, by Mary F. Hall.]

=Canis latrans cagottis= (Hamilton Smith)

Coyote; Spanish, Coyote; Tarascan, Jihuatz (Hewatz)

_Lyciscus cagottis_ Hamilton Smith, Jardine's Naturalist's Library, Mamm., 9:164, 1839, type from Rio Frio between city of Mexico and Puebla.

_Canis latrans cagottis_, Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 45:224, November 26, 1932.