34 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ZOOLOGY, VOL. X. 



ment of Encontrados. Disembarking, we continued by rail the follow- 

 ing day to Uraca, the terminus of the "Gran Ferrocarril del Tachira." 

 Thence with mules we quickly passed into the highlands to San Juan 

 de Colon, and after slight delay in securing fresh animals, went on from 

 there westward to San Jose de Cucuta, Colombia. Further mule travel 

 brought us to the upper slopes of the Paramo de Tama, south of Cucuta, 

 where camp was established at about 7,000 ft. altitude, first on the 

 Colombian side of the boundary and later a few miles away on the 

 Venezuelan side. 



On the return a month later, several days were spent at El Guaya- 

 bal near Cucuta. Rail transportation was then available to Puerto 

 Villamizar and canoes from there to Encontrados, where we found a 

 steamer lying at the bank bound for Maracaibo. Proceeding directly 

 there, Mr. Jewett, who had contracted a slight malarial fever, im- 

 mediately took passage for the United States while I remained to make 

 a brief trip to the savannas of Empalado, some thirty miles east of 

 Maracaibo. 



Our collecting stations were comparatively few: (i) El Panorama, 

 Rio Aurare, Venezuela; (2) Paramo de Tama, Colombia and Vene- 

 zuela; (3) El Guayabal, Colombia; and (4) Empalado Savannas, 

 Venezuela. A few specimens from other places were obtained from 

 natives in Maracaibo, and a small collection secured for the Museum 

 by Mr. H. F. Raven at Encontrados also is recorded at this time. The 

 localities of our own work may be described briefly as follows : 



El Panorama, January 17-24. Situated nearly due east of Mara- 

 caibo and scarcely beyond the sound of its church bells some eight 

 miles away, El Panorama, the hato of Sr. Tinedo, is nevertheless a 

 place of apparent isolation. It is reached by means of a shallow 

 winding slew or cany a, the lower part of which traverses a heavy growth 

 of overhanging mangroves and the upper a broad expanse of waving 

 bulrushes. The house and surrounding shelters from which we worked 

 are on high ground overlooking a sea of bulrushes and grassy swamp 

 with patches of open water in the distance. To the southwest is a 

 mangrove swamp extending to the shore of the big lake, while south 

 and east is relatively high dry land covered with the open forest char- 

 acteristic of arid tropical regions. Wild pineapples or mayas abound, 

 small palms and various cacti are scattered about, and numerous small 

 and mostly thorny shrubs are features of the vegetation. A half a 

 mile from the house is a large cienega, or spring-fed pond, and a few 

 miles beyond are several smaller ones. The course of the Rio Aurare, 

 which carries no water in the dry season, runs near by and is lost among 



