﻿MAMMALS OF NORTHERN COLOMBIA — HERSHKOVITZ 355 



and Central American populations. Specimens from the Sierra 

 Nevada were flashed at night in overgrown clearings, along edges of 

 pastures, and on banks of streams. No tapitis were encountered in 

 surrounding forests. On the other hand, most tapitis taken in the 

 Cesar-Guaimaral region were captured within the very forest. Occa- 

 sionall}^ an individual was observed or taken on a trail or in a newly- 

 made clearing within the forest. Once the night hunter emerges from 

 forests bordering the Cesar he steps abruptly into savannas, palm 

 groves, or scrub country. Here tapitis are no longer seen, and only 

 the eye of the cottontail reflects back the light of the lantern. 



Because of rapid deforestation, principally through burning, tapitis 

 of the Sierra Nevada are in process of becoming completely isolated 

 from their relatives in the plains forests. Tapitis of the Cesar un- 

 doubtedly have a wider, more continuous distribution with others in 

 the lowlands of northern Colombia. Presumably they grade into 

 messorius and gabbi of Panama and into nicefori of the forested slopes 

 of the Colombian Andes. 



Specimens examined. Sixteen. Colonia Agricola de Caracolicito, 

 8 (U.S.N.M.); Rio Guaimaral, Rio Cesar, 8 (U.S.N.M.). 



SYLVILAGUS BRASIUENSIS FULVESCENS Allen 



Sylvilagus (Tapeti) fulvescens Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 31, p. 75, 



1912; vol. 32, p. 477, 1913 (comparisons). 

 Sylvilagus fuscescens [sic], Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 35, p. 204, 



1916 {lapsus calami for fulvescens; Bel6n). 



Holotype— Adult female, skin and skull, A.M.N.H. No. 32360; 

 collected July 28, 1911, by Leo E. Mifler. 



Type locality. — Belen, a collecting station in the Cordillera Occiden- 

 tal, west of Popayan, Cauca, Colombia. Allen gave the altitude as 

 6,000 feet, but judged by the collector's itinerary Belen is near or on 

 the summit of the range (10,340 feet) just north of Cerro Munchique. 



Distribution. — Known only from type locality. 



Characters. — Generally as in high Andean races with pelage long, 

 thick, and soft, posterior angle of supraorbital process delicately 

 formed and divergent from frontal; more uniformly buffy than andinus 

 and salentus. 



Specimen examined. — One. The type (A.M.N.H.). 



SYLVILAGUS BRASIUENSIS SALENTUS Allen 



Sylvilagus {Tapeii) salentus Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 476, 

 1913; vol. 25, p. 204, 1916 (Salento).— Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, 

 vol. 5, p. 32, 1920 (comparison with apollinaris) . 



S[ylvilagus] salentus, Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 8, p. 443, 1921 

 (comparison with nicefori) . 



Holotype.— Adult male, skin and skull, A.M.N.H. No. 33050; 

 collected October 2, 1911, by Leo E. Miller. 



