﻿MAMMALS OF NORTHERN COLOMBIA — HERSHKOVITZ 357 



Type locality. — Choachi, Cordillera Oriental, about 20 km. south- 

 east of Bogotil, Cundiuamarca, Colombia; altitude of Choachi, 

 1,966 meters. 



Distribution. — KnowTi only from the Bogottl region. 



Character s.~VQ\sLgC) intermediate in thickness, length, and texture 

 between high Andean (meridensis, andinus, etc.) and lowland tapitis; 

 back Warm Buff to Ochraceous-Buff lined with black, sides distinctly 

 paler, undcrparts, except collar, sharply defined white, bases of hairs 

 dark gray; rostrum and cheek heavily lined with black; supraorbital 

 patch buffy, suborbital region darker; crown at anterior base of ears 

 mixed Tawny and buffy ; upper surface of fore and hind foot ochraceous; 

 ear extremely short; posterior wing of supraorbital process longer 

 and thicker than in high Andean races. 



Remarks. — The above description is based on an adult topotype 

 received from Hermano Apolinar Maria. Ear of type, 42 mm. from 

 notch in dry skin, is equally short in the topotype. S. b. apollinaris 

 differs less from tapitis of the Colombian lowlands than it does from 

 meridensis and andinus of the paramos. A ju venal from the paramo 

 above Choachi is very thickly furred, its cheeks pale. It may represent 

 another paramo race such as andinus but may be referred provisionally 

 to apollinaris. 



Specimens examined.- — Three. Choachi (type, B. M. ; 1 , U. S.N.M.) ; 

 Pdramo de Choachi, 1 (U.S.N.AI.). 



SYLVILAGUS BRASILIENSIS MERIDENSIS Thomas 



Lepus andinus, Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. 20, p. 553, 1897 



(Sierra de Merida). 

 Sylvilagus meridensis Thomas, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 14, p. 36, 1904. — 



Osgood, Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., zool. ser., vol. 10, p. 58, 1912 (Pdramo 



de Tama, observed). 

 S[ylvilagus] meridensis, Cabrera, Trab. Mus. Nac. Cienc. Nat., Madrid, ser. zool.. 



No. 9, pp. 6-8, 1913 (comparisons; distribution). 



Holotype. — Adult, skin only, B.M. No. 4.5.14.1 ; collected by Salamon 

 Briceno Gabaldon e hijos. 



Type locality. — Sierra de Merida, Merida, Venezuela; probably at 

 4,000 meters above sea level. 



Distribution. — Paramos of the Sierra de Merida, Venezuela, possibly 

 ranging into paramos of the Cordillera Oriental, department of San- 

 tander, Colombia; altitudinal range between 2,800 and 4,200 meters 

 above sea level. 



Characters. — Mere uniformly warmly colored throughout than 

 S. b. andinus, pelage longer, nuchal patch less contrasted, cir- 

 cumorbital band dark brown with or without a buffy supraorbital 

 or postorbital patch, underparts \vith more buff, less sharply defined 

 from sides; upper surface of fore and hind foot ochraceous. 



