MAY, 1921. AMERICAN MARSUPIAL, C^NOLESTES OSGOOD. 17 



dillera; but the exact locality is not certain, from the specimens having 

 been unfortunately mixed together." The elevation of Pallatanga is 

 scarcely more than 1500 meters and, since all exact records of C&n- 

 olestes are from greater altitudes, it is probable that the first specimen 

 did not come from there but from the paramos of Mt. Chimborazo or 

 Mt. Pichincha where Fraser also worked. The type of Ccenolestes ob- 

 scurus likewise came from an indefinite locality the vicinity of Bogota, 

 Colombia. In this case the probable actual locality is at the edge of the 

 paramos north or east of the city of Bogota in the eastern Cordillera of 

 the Andes. Exact records are only three in number: Paramo de Tama, 

 Venezuelan Colombian Boundary at 7000-9000 ft. (Osgood, 1912); 

 Hacienda Garzon at 10500 ft., near the Paramo of Mount Pichincha, 

 Ecuador (Stone, 1914); and Torontoy, Peru, at 1 4000 ft. between Lats. 

 10 30' and 13 30' S. and Longs. 72 and 73 W. (Thomas, I9I7). 1 



HABITS. 



Casnokstes is of terrestrial and crepuscular or nocturnal habits. It 

 feeds upon insects. These statements compass in a large measure what 

 is known of its habits. It lives at high altitudes in cool forests not far 

 from timberline and may be found also in grassy openings in mountain 

 valleys. On the Paramo de Tama, near the head of the Tachira River, 

 I obtained it at an altitude of about 7500 feet on both the Venezuelan 

 and Colombian sides of the international boundary line which is here 

 formed by the Tachira River. Most of the specimens were secured in the 

 heart of a dense forest on the Colombian side of the river not far from 

 a hacienda belonging to Don Mario Gonzales of San Jose de Cucuta, 

 Colombia. Wishing to collect and observe in such a place under wholly 

 natural and undisturbed conditions, I had employed men for some days 

 to cut a new trail directly into the deepest part of this forest for a 

 distance of several miles. Camp was established at the terminus of this 

 main trail and short radiating trails were cut thence to various points 

 of the compass, the forest and undergrowth being so dense that but little 

 freedom of movement would have been possible otherwise. In the 

 dense growth along these trails, Casnolesies were caught in small numbers, 

 rarely more than one specimen to fifty "trap nights." The exact nature 

 of the places in which individual specimens were taken varied widely, 

 indicating that the animals move about freely. Some were caught in steel 

 traps baited with small birds, others in rat traps baited with bacon rind, 



1 In a paper published since this was written, Thomas (1920, p. 246) gives three 

 additional locality records: Machu Picchu, Peru, alt. 12000-13000 ft.; Ocabamba Val- 

 ley, Peru, alt. 9100 ft.; Gualea, Ecuador, alt. 6000 ft. 



