18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Jan., 



1859 (see Tomes, P. Z. S., 1860, p. 213). Fraser's specimen was sup- 

 posed to have come from Pallatanga, but this was not certain as the 

 collection had been mixed up, and it is quite as likely, in view of 

 Mr. Rhoads' discovery, that he got it on Mt. Pichincha. 



As given by Tomes in describing the animal in 1863, the measure- 

 ments of the t}npe (reduced to millimeters) are : head and body 97 mm., 

 tail 97, head 31. 



In his description of C. obscurus Thomas. gives the measurements 

 as head and body 151, tail 144, hind foot 23, ear 12x11.5, and bases 

 the species as distinct from C. fuliginosus on the fact that it is " double 

 the size." 



Mr. Rhoads' measurements of his two specimens are: 



Hind 

 Length. Tail. foot. Ear. 



9 , Hacienda Garzon, 10,500 



ft., May 12 198 103 22 11 



9 , Hacienda Garzon, 10,500 



ft., May 12 217 110 22.5 11.5 



Mr. Osgood's series of five females of C. obscurus averaged as follows : 



Total length 223 mm., head and body 107.6, tail vertebrae 115.4, 

 hind foot 22.5. 



It will be readily seen, therefore, that his specimens and those of 

 Mr. Rhoads are practically identical in measurements, while a com- 

 parison of the skins made by Mr. Osgood shows "no appreciable 

 difference." Unless it is maintained that there are two species in 

 Ecuador, it looks very much as if C. obscurus Thomas might become a 

 synonym of C. fuliginosus Tomes. Such a view, involving the 

 assumption that Tomes' measurements were quite erroneous or that 

 his specimen was a young one, seems to me much more rational 

 than to suppose that two species of quite different size occur in Ecuador. 



"The two specimens were secured in swampy ground, the edge of a 

 large pasture on the Hacienda Garzon, within a few feet of a swiftly 

 flowing stream of considerable size. They were caught in small 

 cyclone mouse traps set in underground runways among the thick 

 grass, these runways being al)out on the level with the waterline 

 of the swamp. They were caught on the same day, soon after 

 placing the traps in that locality, but although I continued to 

 trap there for a week longer, having as many as 40 or 50 traps in 

 that place, I secured no more specimens there, nor in any other 

 similar localities where trapping was done. The stream alluded to 

 runs over a bed strewn with volcanic rocks and boulders and is in 



