86 Merriam — Rediscovery of tJic Mexican Kanr/aroo Bat 



" On the otlier baud, the city of Tlalpam was the capital of the state of 

 Mexico from 1828 to 1830, and from a much earlier period has been one 

 of the important towns of the Valley of Mexico. This being the case, 

 the abundance of Dipodomys in the sandy land at the very border of the 

 town suggests the probability that a specimen taken there by an early 

 traveler may have been the one brought to London by Mr. Phillips of 

 Keal del ]Monte, the erroneous reference arising from the notorious care- 

 lessness of the early collectors in labeling specimens."* 



It should l)e added that Tlalj)ara is onl}^ ahout 60 miles from 

 Real del Monte, and should 1:^6 remembered that Gray did not 

 say that his specimen came from Real del INIonte, but merely 

 that it ^vas sent to the British Museum by " Mr. John Philli[)s, 

 who has lately returned from Real del Monte " — quite anotlicr 

 matter. The j^robability is exceedingly great that tlie 8])ecimen 

 was not lal)eled at all before it entered the British ^Museum. 



fk'OfjrapJi ic Distribution . 



Mr. Nelson first found Dipodomys phiUipsi at the extreme 

 soutliern end of the Vallev of INIexico and on the adjacent 

 mountain slopes, Avhere 28 specimens were o])tained. Concern- 

 ing its occurrence in this region he writes : 



"These kangaroo rats occur in the bottom of the valley near Tlalpam, 

 D. F., at an altitude of 7,500 feet, and at the eastern base of the main 

 peak of Ajusco, near the village of the same name, at an altitude of some- 

 thing over 10,000 feet. Still further to the south, on the extreme border 

 of the state of Mexico, adjoining Morelos, they were noted close to the 

 peak of Huitzilac, near the Cruz del Marquez, at an altitude of 9,000 feet. 

 They were also taken at the western base of Mt. Popocatapetl, near the 

 village of Amecameca, at an altitude of about 8,300 feet. The ])eak of 

 Huitzilac lies about 20 miles south of Tlalpam, and Amecameca is 28 

 miles east of the peak of Ajusco, thus giving the species a known range 

 of less than 20 by 30 miles in this district. 



"The animals were far more numerous near Tlalpam than elsewliere. 

 This place is 9 miles south of the City of Mexico, at the extreme south- 

 ern border of the valley, just where the first slojjes of tl)e SieiTa <U' 



*ln continuing nn^ work to the eastward 1 found it necessaiy to visi^ 

 the city of Pnebla. Tliere 1 learned that the State College had a small 

 umssum, which 1 visited. One of the first things that met my eye wiis 

 a D''podo)nys2)hUli})sl habeled as coming from Ojo de Agua, Pucbla. Leav- 

 ing the city, my route took me first into Tlaxcala and thence to eastern 

 Puebia, in both of wliicli districts I found the species abundant, as de- 

 tailed elsewhere in this paper. 



