APRIL, 1914. MAMMALS OF NORTHERN PERU OSGOOD 171 



too young for positive identification. Reports of rabbits were obtained 

 at Llagueda, at Cajamarca, and at Hacienda Limon, but the animals 

 themselves were very difficult to secure. We found no signs of them 

 except in cultivated alfalfa fields, and there repeated efforts to trap or 

 to shoot them were unsuccessful. 



Sylvilagus defilippii (Cornalia). 



One adult and six young from Moyobamba are in the collection. 

 These agree rather closely with the description of 5. b. inca* except that 

 the ears are only slightly blackish distally and the proximal half of the 

 upper side of the hind feet is rather extensively whitish. The same 

 characters were noted by Cabrera f in specimens from the type region 

 of 5. defilippii and it is therefore probable that our specimens are nearer 

 to that species than to 5. b. inca from southeastern Peru. 



Rabbits were by no means common at Moyobamba and in the course 

 of several weeks collecting only two were seen. In both cases, this was 

 in bushy thickets near the banks of the river. 



Tremarctos ornatus (F. Cuvier). SPECTACLED BEAR. 



An adult female was obtained in the mountains about 10 miles 

 northwest of Menocucho. A male accompanying it was wounded but 

 made its escape. ff 



In this region the spectacled bear inhabits extremely arid mountains 

 which support only a scanty vegetation consisting principally of cactuses 

 and small thorny bushes. These mountains are from 1,000 ft. to 5,000 

 ft. above sea level and although some of the higher slopes and small 

 canyons support scattered trees and occasional thickets of mixed 

 vegetation, the general character of the region is excessively arid and 

 not greatly different from the desert plain stretching westward to the 

 sea. A fairly common shrub, a species of Capirras called chapote by the 

 natives, produces a pear-shaped fruit having a hard outer shell enclosing 

 numerous seeds which evidently form the principal food of the bears. 

 The region is for long periods almost waterless and animal life is very 

 limited. Signs of small mammals, except an occasional fox track, were 



*Thomas, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., (8), XI, p. 210, February, 1913. 



fTrab. del Mus. de Cienc. Nat., Madrid, ser. Zool. No. 9, p. 9, April, 1913. 



ft A popular illustrated account of the hunt on which these bears were encountered 

 was published in Outdoor World and Recreation, N. Y., XLVIII, pp. 367-370, 

 June, 1913. 



