Fam. 6. Procyonidae.—This family is mainly American in range, the genus Aelurus alone being a native of the Old World. But Zittel would include with the genera of this family the Viverrine and Oriental genus Arctictis, a proceeding which is perhaps hardly admissible, though the occasional absence of a caecum in that animal is so far in favour of such an alliance. The largely vegetable nature of its food and its arboreal habits cause a certain amount of likeness to some of the members of the present group of Carnivores. The Procyonidae have two
molars in either half of each jaw. The carnassial teeth are not typically developed, and the molars are broad and tuberculate. The tail is long, often prehensile, and often ringed in the disposition of its colour pattern. The alisphenoid canal is absent save in the aberrant Aelurus. Both condyloid and postglenoid foramina are present. The members of this family are plantigrade.
Fig. 213.—Raccoon. Procyon lotor. × 1⁄5.
The genus Procyon includes at least two species of Raccoon, the northern form, P. lotor, and the South American, P. cancrivorus. To these may possibly be added a third, P. nigripes. This genus is characterised by the length and the mobility of the fingers, and indeed it uses its hands greatly. It has no median groove upon the muzzle, which is found in many other Arctoids; the ears are moderately large; the tail is not long, being about one-third of the entire length of the animal, including the tail. The soles of the feet are naked. Its limbs are very long (for an Arctoid), and this gives to the animal a bunched-up appearance when walking. There are four premolars and two molars on each side of each jaw. There are fourteen pairs of ribs, of which ten pairs reach the sternum. The latter is composed of nine pieces.
The first-named species has received its name from the fact—of which there is abundant proof—that it dips its food into water. As a matter of fact, the animal frequents the margins of streams, and hunts in the shallow water beneath stones for
crayfish, and it also captures fish. Not only is this animal partially aquatic, but it can climb well—"they make their homes in trees, but carry on their business elsewhere." The animal can be readily tamed, but is a tiresome pet on account of its insatiable curiosity and its skill in the use of its hands, which enables it to unlatch doors and generally to pry about everywhere. The Raccoons are mostly nocturnal creatures.
The genus Bassaricyon[[285]] includes two species, both American, B. alleni being from Ecuador, and B. gabbii from Costa Rica. They have so much the aspect of a Kinkajou that a specimen, which arrived at the Zoological Gardens, was presented and entered as one of those animals. Nevertheless there are many differences between the two genera. The tail of Bassaricyon is not prehensile, and the animal, as will be seen from Fig. 214, has a sharper snout; the brain is more like that of Bassariscus. The likeness to Cercoleptes can hardly perhaps be regarded as an example of "mimicry" since the forms are so nearly related, and the advantage of such an imitation remains to be proved. The muzzle of Bassaricyon is grooved; the ears are fairly large; the soles of the feet are naked; there is but a single pair of teats. There are two molars and four premolars to each half jaw.
Fig. 214.—Bassaricyon. Bassaricyon alleni. × 1⁄5.