The food habits of raccoons are almost as varied as those of black bears. Animal matter forms their diet over most of the year; along stream courses crayfish, fish, thin-shelled fresh-water mussels, frogs (_Hyla_ and _Rana_), and aquatic insects are eaten. Along beaches fish brought in by the tide, crustaceans, and mussels (_Mytilus edulis_) are taken; small sharks appear not to be eaten. A recently dead dogfish that lay on the beach at Whidby Island, Island County, was ringed by the tracks of a raccoon but had not been eaten. The shore crabs (_Hemigrapsus nudus_ and _Hemigrapsus oregonensis_) are a favored food and regular items of diet. The edible crab (_Cancer productus_) is also eaten and in the San Juan Islands the porcelain crab (_Petrolisthes eriomerus_) was commonly eaten. Small mammals and birds are eaten regularly by this race of raccoon in California (Grinnell, Dixon and Linsdale, 1937: 157), and the eggs and young of wild birds are sought in the spring (_op. cit._: 158). The ability of the raccoon as a climber makes it a particular menace to nesting birds. Berries, including domestic blackberries and salmonberries, are eaten in quantity when available. Apples are dearly loved and the trees and orchards of abandoned ranches are regularly visited. The fondness of the raccoon for green corn is well known. Insects are present in small quantities in most droppings and in the late summer some feces were composed entirely of the remains of grasshoppers. Chickens, ducks, young turkeys and eggs are stolen and individuals become extremely adept at raiding hen-houses. At one time, about 1920, the raccoon became scarce in western Washington as a result of heavy trapping and high price of the pelts. A closed season was strictly enforced until it again became common. The price received by the trapper for raw furs of raccoon has since been rather low, from two to ten dollars. With fur prices in this range, the number of raccoons probably will not be reduced to a dangerously low level by trapping, but instead may be expected to furnish a regular winter income to the trappers who do trap for it. Raccoons are known to breed in their first year of life (Pope, 1944: 91). =Procyon lotor psora= Gray _Procyon psora_ Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 10: 261. December, 1842. _Procyon psora pacifica_ Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna, 16: 107, October 28, 1899 (type from Lake Keechelus, Kittitas County, Washington). _Procyon proteus_ Brass, Aus dem Reiche der Pelze, p. 564, 1911. _Procyon lotor pacifica_ Taylor and Shaw, Occ. Pap. Chas. R. Conner Mus., no. 2: 10. December, 1929. _Procyon lotor psora_ Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale, Fur-bearing Mamm. California, Univ. California Press, Berkeley, p. 137, July 22, 1937. _Type locality._--Sacramento, Sacramento County, California. _Racial characters._--Medium size; dark color; smoothly rounded skull.