Appendix B — On a New Form of Puma From Patagonia. By Oldfield Thomas, F.R.S.
The National Collection owes to the generosity of Mr. C. Arthur Pearson the skin of a fine puma, obtained by Mr. Hesketh Prichard during the recent Daily Express expedition to Patagonia. The skin is remarkably unlike any known form of puma, and appears certainly to represent a new sub-species.
Dr. Matschie has already shown66 that the red puma of the tropics to which he restricts the name Felis concolor, is replaced south of 25° S. lat. by the silver-grey form for which Molina’s name, F. puma, is used.
Now, again, south of about 44° S. lat., there proves to be another form, represented in the British Museum not only by Mr. Prichard’s skin from Santa Cruz, but by a second much younger specimen from the Rio Senguerr. Both show the same characteristics, and are equally different from the Argentine silver-grey form.
In commemoration of Mr. Pearson’s scientific spirit in sending out the expedition, and in presenting the specimen to the National Museum, I would propose to call it
Felis concolor Pearsoni, sub-sp. n.
General build thick and sturdy, with comparatively short limbs and tail. Fur thick and woolly, the specimens evidently in winter pelage. General colour nearest to Ridgway’s “clay-colour,” therefore exceedingly different from the nearly “drab-grey” of F. c. puma. This colour is most vivid along the back, paler laterally on the sides, but there is nothing that can be called a distinct dorsal dark line. Undersurface whitish-fawn, the hairs sandy at their bases, whiter terminally. Face very much like back, darker markings practically obsolete; the usual lighter markings near the eye present but not conspicuous. Ears of normal length, their backs uniformly whitish-fawn, without darker markings. Outer sides of limbs like back, inner sides like belly; ends of fingers and toes whitish, without any darker markings round the pads. Tail proportionally very short, brownish clay-colour above, whitish below, the tip not or scarcely darker.
Dimensions of the typical skin, which has been tanned and stretched, so that the measurements are merely approximate:—Head and body 1370 millim., tail 530, ear 80.
Hab. Santa Cruz, Patagonia; about 70 miles inland.
Type. Female. B.M. No. 1. 8. 12. 1. Brought home by Mr. H. Prichard and presented by Mr. C. Arthur Pearson.
The skin was bought by Mr. Prichard from Indians in the region mentioned, so that neither flesh-measurements nor skull were obtained.
The second skin is that of a young male, killed on the Senguerr River, in March 1897, by one of the collectors from the La Plata Museum, by whom it was presented to the British Museum. Owing to its youth, its peculiarities had not been previously noticed.
F. c. Pearsoni is distinguished from F. c. puma not only by its very different general colour, but also by its shorter tail, light-coloured ear-backs, and the absence of the dark markings round the digital pads.