

PART I. 



Mammalia of Southern Patagonia. 



BY 



J. A. ALLEN, 



American Museum of Natural History, New York. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE area covered by the present report includes that portion of 

 Argentina situated south of south latitude 40°, Tierra del Fuego, 

 and the southern part of the Chilian Territory of Magellan, or that 

 portion of it lying west of Tierra del Fuego. The main Andean chain 

 thus forms the western boundary. Its basis is primarily the collections 

 made by the Princeton Expeditions, gathered mainly in the Territory of 

 Santa Cruz, to which material it was intended at first to restrict the 

 report. Later it seemed desirable to extend the scope to include what 

 seems to be a fairly well marked faunal region. Finally, to impart to it 

 something of the character of a monograph, and perhaps thus add to its 

 usefulness, it was decided to include not only full bibliographical refer- 

 ences, but also, in most instances, descriptions of the species, and such 

 accounts of their life histories as could be conveniently brought together, 

 including especially the field notes of the collectors. 



The Princeton Expedition's collections of mammals were made partly 

 on the coast, and partly in the interior at the eastern base of the Andes, 

 by O. A. Peterson in 1897, ^i^*^ Mr. E. A. Colburn in 1898, and aggre- 

 gate about 600 specimens. A few specimens collected by Mr. Barnum 

 Brown in 1899, and by him presented to the American Museum of Natu- 

 ral History, and various specimens belonging to the U. S. National 

 Museum have also been utilized, while great assistance has been derived 

 from the examination of the material from this and adjoining parts of 

 South America in the British Museum. 



