NEW" MAMMALS FROM EASTERN PANAMA 1 

 By E. A. GOLDMAN 



During the early part of the present year I was again detailed 

 from the Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture to 

 field work in connection with the Smithsonian Biological Survey of 

 the Panama Canal Zone. Additional collections of mammals and 

 birds were made in January and February in the Canal Zone. From 

 the latter part of February to near the end of June work was carried 

 on in eastern Panama to determine the faunal relation of the regi< n 

 to the Canal Zone and the better known areas to the westward and 

 northward. The work was centered in the Pirri range of mountains 

 which rises to a height of over 5.000 feet near the Colombian bound- 

 ary southeast of San Miguel Bay. This range, one of the highest 

 of eastern Panama, is an isolated spur jutting out into the broad, 

 low valleys of the Rio Tuyra and its tributaries from the mountains, 

 funning the continental divide to the southeastward. The region is 

 covered with an unbroken forest and has a heavy annual rainfall, 

 but at the lower levels the months from January to April are usually 

 quite dry. At this season the prevailing winds are from the north 

 and moisture laden air reaches the upper slopes of the Pirri Range 

 after passing over the lower mountain- along the continental divide 

 and across the broad, dry Tuyra Valley. Clouds form almost con- 

 tinuously and the summits are shrouded in heavy fogs in which it is 

 often impossible to see more than a few feet, twilight effects being 

 produced in the forest even at midday. Although little real rain 

 usually falls at this season the condensation of moisture on the 

 foliage and constant dripping amount to light showers. The forest 

 is of rather lower, denser growth than at the lower levels, many 

 beautiful palms being conspicuous and epiphytic vegetation abundant. 



The region was entered from the Pacific side. Leaving Panama 

 by steamer, February 21, I landed at Marraganti, between one and 

 two miles above Real de Santa Maria, near the head of tide-water on 

 the Rio Tuyra. February 22. On the following day the river was 

 ascended by dugout canoe a- far a- Boca de Cupe, a small settle- 



1 This paper is the fifteenth dealing with the results of the Smithsonian Bio- 

 logical Survey of the Panama Canal Zone. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 60, No. 2 



