PAPERS OF GENERAL INTEREST 31 



Tliev were much parasitized, especially ^^-itll small Ces- 

 todes. The frogs are taken by the native balseros ^Yith 

 a crude, three-tined gig, and are marketed at Jmiin. This 

 species is not commonly used for food about Lake Titi- 

 eaca, where it exists in great numbers. 



The marshes and reedy islands surrounding Lake 

 Junin harbor a multitude of Inrds, especially ducks, 

 coots, and grebes. Seldom may one look out upon the 

 lake without sighting the smoke of fires in the bulrushes 

 employed by the Indians to reveal the nests of birds. 

 The eggs are a highly prized addition to the scanty diet, 

 though scorched by the fire or in a state of partial incu- 

 bation. 



Six weeks were spent upon the Huallaga river and 

 some of its aflQuents. The highway from Cerro de Pasco 

 to Huanuco follows the river from its origin, a group 

 of springs below Cerro at 14,000 feet. Between Cerro 

 and Huanuco, a distance of seventy miles, both river and 

 road descend to an elevation of 6,000. Li its upper 

 course the river is mostly a series of rapids. Xo fish were 

 encountered above Ambo, at an elevation of probably 

 7,500. They are said to occur at San Rafael during the 

 lower stages of the river. This village has an elevation 

 of 9,000 or more. At Huanuco several species of fish 

 occur. 



Collecting was continued seventy miles below Huanuco 

 — as far as the Cayumba rapids, at 1,800 or 2,000 feet. 

 These constitute an effective barrier to the tropical fishes 

 of the lower course of the Huallaga. Xot more than six 

 species occur above the rapids. A native river man was 

 able to enumerate and describe thirty-six species occur- 

 ring from Ca^Timba to Tingo Maria, the ensuing forty 

 miles. A crab was found for some distance above the 

 falls, as well as below. 



On the ridge of Punta de Esperanza, altitude 9,000 

 feet, and thirty miles northeast of Huanuco, the trail 

 abruptly enters the tropical forest, which from this point 

 onward entirely envelops the mountains. On the forested 

 east slope the rainy season was well under way, in sharp- 



