SOUTH AMERICA 407 



inches in basicranial length. The upper incisor and canine are 

 lancet-shaped and capable of inflicting a bad wound, but the 

 lower incisors are procumbent. There are callosities on the 

 inner side of the fore limbs. 



The range is from the Andes of south-central Peru south- 

 ward to Patagonia, where it comes to the lower altitudes, and 

 thence to Tierra del Fuego. Very likely, when sufficient 

 series of specimens are available, more than the single geo- 

 graphic form may be distinguished. Indeed, Lonnberg (1913) 

 has described as Lama huanachus cacsilensis, an animal of 

 small size from Cacsile, Nunoa, Peru, which seems to be more 

 like the vicuna and according to Osgood (1916) is "not closely 

 related" to the common guanaco. Its status may await 

 further study. 



Osgood (1916) states that the herds he saw on the Pampa de 

 Arrieros, between Arequipa and Puno, at the northern part of 

 the animal's range, are "almost if not quite the northernmost 

 now existing." Inhabiting as they do the alpine zone between 

 14,000 and 18,000 feet above the sea, they are perhaps also 

 the most lofty-living of the species. Barren though these 

 heights appear, the animals obtain pasturage sufficient to sus- 

 tain existence. Though little hunted by white man, they are 

 persecuted by the Indians, who shoot them from blinds 

 erected at waterholes. The skins are used in making beautiful 

 rugs or for saddle cloths, while the meat is of excellent quality. 

 B. T. Colley, writing to Dr. Francis Harper from Oroya, Peru, 

 in April, 1934, states that to the south of the Puno region, and 

 beyond the Atacama Desert, the guanaco is rather plentiful, 

 and he has seen herds of over a hundred animals on the con- 

 tinental divide above Santiago, while farther to the south 

 there are many more. Here, as winter sets in, they move down 

 from the higher regions to lower altitudes, retiring chiefly to 

 the Argentine side because of the abruptness of the Chilean 

 Cordillera. They have a characteristic habit of making zigzag 

 trails in which the angles tend to be equal and regular. 



In Chile, Jose M. B. Toro reports (in litt., 1934), the guanaco 

 has become so much reduced in numbers in the past 20 years 

 or more because of persecution that in 1929 a decree was 

 passed prohibiting the hunting of it for three years, after 

 which the close time was extended for two years more to 

 December 1, 1935. At the present time there are still a few 



