This continuing interest in the mammals of Michoacán has made it seem, to us, the more desirable to place on record our findings as to kinds and occurrence of species. In doing this we have examined the collections made previously on Cerro Tancítaro and vicinity by the field party led by Mr. Harry Hoogstraal from the University of Illinois and the Chicago Natural History Museum. The specimens of mammals collected by this field party are in the Chicago Natural History Museum and we are obliged to Mr. Karl P. Schmidt, Mr. Colin C. Sanborn and the late Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood for the privilege of studying this material.
Drs. William H. Burt and Emmet T. Hooper, of the Museum of Zoölogy of the University of Michigan, lent to us for examination five specimens of bats, of as many species, which they had taken in Michoacán. Drs. Remington Kellogg and Henry W. Setzer have provided us with data on specimens of deer and peccary from Michoacán which are in the United States National Museum. Specimens in the Institute of Biology of the University of México have been used. Financial provision by the Kansas University Endowment Association has enabled us to obtain specimens needed for comparison from other parts of México.
In addition to the materials mentioned above we have used published references to mammals of Michoacán and have prepared the following lists of kinds of mammals positively known to us to occur in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It is noteworthy that specimens recorded in the literature from Acámbaro, Michoacán, no longer are to be ascribed to Michoacán, since a relocation of the boundary between the states of Michoacán and Guanajuato, places Acámbaro in the latter state.
Our aims were: (1) To record kinds of mammals positively known from the state, under the correct scientific name, and vernacular names in English, Spanish, and Tarascan. The first Tarascan name is given in the spelling used by Tarascans followed by the phonetic equivalent in English in parentheses. (2) To indicate the geographic range of each kind in the state, and, (3) To record miscellaneous information which it is thought probably will be useful in one way or another to other students whose work certainly will lengthen the list of kinds of mammals known from Michoacán and otherwise add to our knowledge of them.
Several kinds of bats, of which we lack records, certainly occur in Michoacán. Four or five kinds of cats (genus Felis), species of the genera Potos, Lutra, Tayra, Grison, and several other kinds of mammals of which we now lack positive record, also probably occur there; the list of kinds, we expect, will number more than one hundred species and subspecies when more intensive collecting has been done in the state. In all, we have positive record of 85 kinds of native, wild mammals of which specimens have been examined or recorded from Michoacán. Distances and elevations here are recorded either in the metric system or in the English system, according to the system used on the labels of the specimens concerned. Unless otherwise indicated, catalogue numbers of more than 100,000 are of specimens in the University of California Museum of Vertebrate Zoölogy and numbers of less than 100,000 are of the Chicago Natural History Museum.
Fig. 1. Map of the state of Michoacán showing place names mentioned in the text.
ACCOUNTS OF SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES
Didelphis mesamericana mesamericana Oken
Opossum; Spanish, Tlacuache; Tarascan, Ujkúri (Ukuri)