yo. 5 



MAMMALS OF PANAMA GOLDMAN 



Commission to do everything possible to further the work. A day or 

 two was spent in examining the canal route, and Gatun was chosen 

 as the most favorable point from which to prosecute field work in 

 the Gatun Lake area. Field investigations were begun in that region 

 owing to the obvious importance of making as thorough collections as 

 possible before the biological changes resulting from the transforma- 

 tion of a forest into a lake 164 square miles in area should take place. 



For aid in the field I was fortunate in securing Mr. Adan Lizano 

 whose training and experience as taxidermist of the Museo Nacional 

 of Costa Rica rendered him an invaluable assistant. In addition to 

 study and collection of the mammals much time was devoted to the 

 birds, and smaller collections of reptiles and amphibians were made. 

 While the work for the season was concentrated largely in the Gatun 

 Lake area, collections were also made at various localities along the 

 Hne of the Panama Railroad south to the Pacific coast and at points 

 to the east of the Canal Zone. 



On the morning of March 17 we left Panama by launch for Chepo, 

 about 40 miles to the east, en route to the mountains near the head- 

 waters of the Chagres River, Early in the afternoon we entered the 

 broad mouth of the Bayano River and ascended for about 12 miles 

 between lines of low tidal forest to Hato Bayano at the mouth of the 

 Mamoni where we were landed, and the launch continued on up the 

 Bayano to the property of the Bayano Lumber Company. The 

 Bayano is here a large, deep stream with low, but usually rather 

 steep, muddy banks left exposed at low tide. Many alligators, sun- 

 ning themselves in places where the bank receded, slid slowly into the 

 water as we approached. A dugout canoe was secured and late in 

 the evening our outfit was taken on the high tide to the head of 

 navigation about three miles up the Mamoni River. Leaving our 

 outfit for the night we continued on foot about three miles farther to 

 Chepo, a rambling native village of about 1,000 inhabitants. Chepo 

 is situated on the west bank of the Mamoni River, and near the edge 

 of the most easterly of the open savannas which extend at intervals 

 along the Pacific coast to beyond the Costa Rican frontier. Six or 

 eight miles north of the town a wooded ridge, rising rather steeply 

 from the coastal plain, extends eastward from the main range of 

 the interior, and maintains a general height of about 1,000 feet to 

 the point where it ends rather abruptly in an elbow of the Mamoni. 

 Our objective point was the Cerro Azul, a dominant peak about 

 3.000 feet high near the continental divide, northwest of Chepo. 

 Two days were spent in outfitting. Small ponies were secured for 



