Amphibians and Reptiles op Santa Marta 33 



Fonseca. A small town on the Rio Rancheria a few miles below the 

 point where it breaks out of the foothills into the valley lying between the 

 Sierra Nevada and the eastern Andes. I do not think it can be more than 

 500 feet above sea-level. Except for the heavy woodland of the Rio Ran- 

 cheria flood-plain, the surrounding country supports a vegetation very sim- 

 ilar to that encountered all along the trail between Riohacha and Arroya de 

 Arenas, viz., low open scrub of acacia-like trees and cacti. It lies on the 

 main trail between Riohacha and Valle de Upar. 



Pundacion. A large cattle ranch and travellers' station on the trail 

 between Camperucho and Alto de las Minas, on the Rio Garupal. The pre- 

 vailing vegetation in the immediate vicinity is savanna and scattered clumps 

 of low, tangled woodland, largely of the "dry forest" type. 



Fundacion. A small village at the southern terminus of the Santa 

 Marta Railway. The name Fundacion really applies only to that portion 

 of the town lying on the north side of the Rio Fundacion, which has been 

 built up since the railway reached that point. The part of the town on the 

 south side of the river is the old settlement existing before the arrival of 

 the railway and was called Buena Vista. This name is still used by the 

 inhabitants of the region to the south, but as a rule the name Fundacion is 

 now used everywhere for the town as a whole. The country to the south 

 and west of the town is broken and hilly, with a more open forest in which 

 many types of trees belonging to the "dry forest" are present. To the west 

 and north the forest has been largely cleared away, but was originally of 

 the heavy, humid type, similar to the Magdalena basin and the Ariguani. 



Gaira. A small village on the Santa Marta Railway about eight miles 

 from Santa Marta and not far from the sea. With the exception of the 

 land under irrigation and the narrow valley of the Rio Gaira, the whole 

 region is very arid, with an abundance of thorny scrub and giant cacti. 



Guallabol or Guayabol. A locality given by Simons, and which I can- 

 not locate defmitely. It is given as having an elevation of 3,000 feet, and 

 must be somewhere on the south slopes of the Sierras, since there is no 

 such place on either the north, northwest or west sides. 



Jordan. A locality used by Smith. It is situated on a small stream of 

 the same name, which empties into the Rio Piedras, and lies between the 

 Matagiro Valley and the hills along the coast east of Santa Marta. The 

 head of the valley is in the semi-arid coast belt, while the lower portion is 

 heavily forested like the valley of the Rio Pedras, being really in the trans- 

 ition zone between the semi-arid and the humid of the north coast. It is 

 reached by the trail out from Bonda, which leads to the coast at the mouth 

 of the Rio Piedras and thence to Don Diego and Dibulla. 



La Concepcion. A locality used only by Brown, and given as having 

 an altitude of 3.000 feet. It is always g^iven in connection with localities 

 on the north slope, and from the species listed as taken there I would judge 

 that it was on the top of the mountain ridge which the trail crosses in going 

 from Pueblo Viejo to San Miguel. 



Las Florcs. A small farm and lowland station belonging to the hacienda 



