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



Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Linnseus). Capybara. 



Six specimens, El Panorama, Rio Aurare. 



A series of shallow ponds near the Tinedo hato were the resort of 

 several families of capybaras and during our stay from one to a dozen 

 individuals were almost always to be found there. The ponds were 

 surrounded by mangroves and heavy thickets of a tall clustering fern 

 under which the animals retreated when alarmed. Once within the 

 intricate depths of this cover they were almost as safely concealed as 

 the rails and gallinules which frequently accompanied them. Although 

 they fled precipitately upon sighting a man, they could hardly be 

 called shy since they fed daily within a fourth of a mile of the hato 

 where people were constantly coming and going. Moreover, they paid 

 not the slightest attention to cattle and domestic hogs which wallowed 

 in the same ponds with them. So far as could be observed their food 

 at this time consisted principally of a fine slimy algas forming a thick 

 mat on the bottom of the ponds. They seemed to be quite diurnal and 

 were most often seen feeding in glaring midday standing belly deep or 

 with only their heads and hips above water, alternately rooting in the 

 bottom and raising their heads to chew contentedly and look about. 

 As they stand in the water, they have a decidedly saddle-backed ap- 

 pearance and the general shape of the body is that of a common guinea 

 pig on a large scale. 



The specimens secured range from quite young to fully adult. 

 Measurements of an adult male are: Total length 1,000 mm.; circum- 

 ference of chest 730; of belly at middle 900; of neck 445; hip to shoulder 

 650; height at shoulder (to end of toe) 500; hind foot 215. 



Local name Piropiro. 



Proechimys ochraceus sp. nov. Ochraceous Spiny Rat. 



Type from El Panorama, Rio Aurare, Zulia, Venezuela. No. 18687 

 Field Museum of Natural History. Male adult (last molar very slight- 

 ly worn). Collected Jan. 17, 1911, by W. H. Osgood and S. G. Jewett. 



Characters. Size small; tail short; color pale. Somewhat similar 

 to P. canicollis but coloration of the head, neck, and legs not grayish 

 but uniform with back and sides. Similar to P. guairce but smaller 

 and paler, therefore much the palest of the known members of the 

 cayennensis group. Spines rather weak, confined to back, about 19 

 mm. long by .6 mm. wide. Color of upper parts chiefly tawny ochraceous 

 lightly lined with blackish, the rump, sides of body, and outer sides of 

 hind legs somewhat paler, more buffy; under parts pure white; hind 



