372 FISHES OF WESTERN SOUTH AMERICA 
16089, 5, four small, 58-73 mm., one large, 180 mm., bay of Huanecané, Allen, December, 1918. 
16093, many, Calacoto, Bolivia, Allen, March, 1919. 
16101, many, small to minute, R. Colorado; Viacha, Allen, March, 1919. 
16106, many, Rio de Juli, saline, Allen, December, 1918. 
16108, many, Rio Colorado, Viacha, Bolivia, Allen, March, 1919. 
16112, many, wet meadows, Pampa de Acora, Allen, December, 1918. 
16114, many, 28-8 8 mm.,R. de Eucaliptus, Bolivia, Allen, January, 1919. 
16116, 18, 56-74 mm., roadside pool near Juli, Allen, December, 1918. 
16117, many, pools and creek, Ilave, Allen, December, 1919. 
16118, 15, Rio Caminaque, Have, Allen, December, 1918. 
16119, many, Rio de Have, Ilave, Allen, December, 1918. 
16121, many, millrace, Maravillas, R. de Lampa, Allen, November, 1918. 
16122, many, 29-74 mm., Lagunillas, Allen, March, 1919. 
16124, 20, 28-82 mm., R. de Lampa and lagoons, Allen, January, 1919. 
16125, 18, 31-94 mm., Rio Grande de Lipez, Bolivia, Allen, February, 1919. 
16126, 11, 40-103 mm., R. de Tiahuandco, pond, Allen, March, 1919. 
17867, many, 40-100 mm., R. de Santa Rosa, Eigenmann, December, 1918. 
———, many, Puno mole, Allen, November, 1918. 
——, 2, 86 and 117 mm., Chucuito, Allen, November, 1919. 
Of all the members of the genus this is the most widely dispersed and the 
most given to variation, a circumstance which has been a constant incitement to 
the creation of species and varieties. It has the greatest range, from the mountains 
about Cuzco and the passes of the western cordillera, throughout the Titicaca basin 
southward farther than other species to the southern extremity of the Bolivian and 
Chilean altiplano.* With two exceptions it is the nearest the primitive ancestral 
form, being little specialized from the ancestral minnow-like form, especially in 
the younger stages, and resembling in its juvenile stages those of other species, 
most if not of all. I have found it the most adaptable of all the Orestias, occurring 
in all types of marshy lands, streams and lakes. It has the greatest range in 
latitude, is found at higher and lower altitudes than any other, and has adjusted 
itself to all degrees of salinity and freshness of the waters of the interandine valleys. 
Hence the variations of form and color, especially of color. In some of the inter- 
mediate areas agassizii is replaced locally by other species, such as miilleri, their 
distribution being reminiscent of that of the two dominant tribes of the land, the 
Quichuas and the Aymaras. 
Although not esteemed for food to the degree I have indicated for O. cuviert 
and pentlandi, yet among the aborigines it is a food fish of considerable importance, 
despite its small size. The larger ones are marketed fresh, while the smaller ones 
are dried entire and are a reserve food for use when the fresh ones are unavailable. 
In the shops at Puno, Cuzco, La Paz, and elsewhere I encountered large burlap 
bags of dried Orestias agassizii (and the other small species) displayed with the tops 
of the bags rolled back, and standing about on the earthen floors among the still 
larger bags of the dried leaf of the coca plant. 
Known today as in Pentland’s time as the carache. This name Pentland varied 
as carachito, but I did not encounter the diminutive form except when young 
* Higenmann, 1927, page 5, correctly states that this species was found in Lake Ascotan. His 
caption under fig. 3 1s in error in stating that O. agassiz7i extends down the western slope to the Rio 
Loa at Calama, which I found devoid of fishes now, although from the extensive tampering with that 
stream some former population may have been exterminated. 
