NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



659 



cinerea demerarae, Meiachirus nndican- 

 dahis, Monodelphis brevicaudata; Three- 

 toed sloth: Bradypus cuculliger; Two- 

 toed sloth: Choloepus didachjlus; Great 

 Anteaters: Myrmecophaga tridactyla; 

 Silky Anteater: Cyclopes didactylus; Ar- 

 madillos: Dasypus novemcinctus , Tatti 

 kappleri; Peccaries: Tayassu pecari bee- 

 bei, Pecari iajacu macrocephalus ; 

 Brockets Deer: Mazama americana tu- 

 matumari, Mazama neviorivaga; Capy- 

 bara: Hydrochoerus hydrochoerus ; 

 Agouti : Dasyprocia aguti flavescens ;V&ca, : 

 Agouti paca. Spiny rats: Proechimys 

 cayennensis. Echimys longirostris ; Mice 

 and Rats: (Ecomys guianae, (Ecomys 

 nitedulus, (Ecomys rutilus, Neacomys 

 guianae, Nectomys squamipes melanius, 

 Oryzomys spp.; Squirrel: Guerlingvetus 

 aestuans aestuans; Crab-eating raccoon: 

 Procyon cancrivorus; Kinkajou; Potos 

 flavus; Otter: Ltitramitis ;T&yr&: Tayra 

 barbara; Coati: Nasua phceocephala; jag- 

 uar: Panthera onca; Tiger Cat: Margay 

 tigrina vigens; Yaguarondi: Herpailurus 

 yaguarondi unicolor; Bats: Saccopteryx 

 bilineata, Rhynchiscus naso, Glossophaga 

 soricina,H emiderma perspicillatum,, Mes- 

 ophylla macconnelli, Phyllostomus has- 

 tatus, Vampyrus spectrum, spectrum, 

 Furipterus horrens, Eumops milleri, 

 Mollossus obscurus, Molessus rufus; 

 Monkeys: Saimiri sciureus, Saimiri 

 cassaquiarensis, Alouatla seniculus 

 macconnelli, Pithecia pithecia, Cebus 

 apella apella. 



b. Savanna'^ 



In the forests of the Savanna region 

 there are several large carnivorous 

 animals including the black jaguar, 

 puma and spotted jaguar. The spotted 

 jaguar would seem to prefer the open 

 country, where it can hunt deer, and, 

 in these daj^s, cattle. Both the spotted 

 and the black jaguar are known not to 

 despise fish : and it is said that they will 

 lie in wait for turtles coming on to sand- 

 banks, to lay eggs. The ocelot may 

 be found in these woods, also. 



__ ' Extracted from the Rev. Walter G. \Miite's 

 "notes from the Hinterland in Tropical Wild Life" 

 by Beebe, Hartley and Howes. 



A savanna fox or maikang occurs. 

 It is audacious, coming into the village 

 in the daytime for fowls or fruit. There 

 is, upon the savannas, a bush, which 

 bears a pretty, red berry, which is 

 called maikang-pimi-u, because the 

 maikang or savanna fox feeds upon it. 

 The maikang makes a hole in which it 

 has its young. A still smaller animal, 

 having a long tail and a pointed snout, 

 is the queer creature called, by the 

 Indians, kuachi. It is the coati, to be 

 found on the low ground about Kwatata 

 Creek. 



Uruata Forest is the home of the 

 armadillo and the porcupine and the 

 sloth. In this big forest, droves of 

 peccary trample, making a varied diet 

 of yellow hog-plums, which may be 

 found scattered over the ground, in 

 places, during the season. The Indians 

 name five distinct kinds of peccary, 

 although only two appear to be known 

 to science. 



Deer are reported to be diminishing 

 rapidly in the savannas, since the 

 Indians have taken to the buck-gun. 

 The deer are most plentiful about the 

 Napi and upon the Katoka Savanna. 

 Here, again, the Indians differentiate 

 four species of deer: Walking {Odocoil- 

 eus virginianus) , smaller savanna deer 

 {Mazama simplicicornis) and two bush- 

 deer. The bush-deer are to be found 

 in Uruate Forest. 



Not much was seen of opossums, for 

 they keep to the trees, hiding amongst 

 the foliage and in their holes. 



Monkeys are common in all the bush. 

 The kwata (Ateles paniscus) has given 

 its name to Kwata-ta, which means 

 Kwata-place (ta being an abbreviation 

 of pata, place), and to the knob of land, 

 Kwata-pubia, or Kwata-head. I have 

 seen a party of a dozen of these animals, 

 making their way from one big bush to 

 another, using, as their highway, the 

 low scrub, which, at that place, fringes 

 the savanna, at the river's edge. They 

 would not cross a long extent of country 

 upon the ground. The red howler 

 {Mycetes seniculus) affords the listener 

 daily and nightly entertainments, in 



