56 Fretp Museum or Natura History — Zo6éroey, Vor. X. 
Hydrocherus hydrocheris (Linnzeus). Capybara. 
Six specimens, El Panorama, Rio Aurare. 
A series of shallow ponds near the Tinedo hato were the resort of 
several families of capybaras and during our stay from one to a dozen 
individuals were almost always to be found there. The ponds were 
surrounded by mangroves and heavy thickets of a tall clustering fern 
under which the animals retreated when alarmed. Once within the 
intricate depths of this cover they were almost as safely concealed as 
‘the rails and gallinules which frequently accompanied them. Although 
they fled precipitately upon sighting a man, they could hardly be 
called shy since they fed daily within a fourth of a mile of the hato 
where people were constantly coming and going. Moreover, they paid 
not the slightest attention to cattle and domestic hogs which wallowed 
in the same ponds with them. So far as could be observed their food 
at this time consisted principally of a fine slimy alge forming a thick 
mat on the bottom of the ponds. They seemed to be quite diurnal and 
were most often seen feeding in glaring midday standing belly deep or 
with only their heads and hips above water, alternately rooting in the 
bottom and raising their heads to chew contentedly and look about. 
As they stand in the water, they have a decidedly saddle-backed ap- 
pearance and the general shape of the body is that of a common guinea 
pig on a large scale. 
The specimens secured range from quite young to fully adult. 
Measurements of an adult male are: Total length 1,000 mm.; circum- 
ference of chest 730; of belly at middle goo; of neck 445; hip to shoulder 
650; height at shoulder (to end of toe) 500; hind foot 215. 
Local name Piropiro. 
Proechimys ochraceus sp. nov. Ochraceous Spiny Rat. 
Type from El Panorama, Rio Aurare, Zulia, Venezuela. No. 18687 
Field Museum of Natural History. Male adult (last molar very slight- 
ly worn). Collected Jan. 17, 1911, by W. H. Osgood and S. G. Jewett. 
Characters. Size small; tail short; color pale. Somewhat similar 
to P. canicollis but coloration of the head, neck, and legs not grayish 
but uniform with back and sides. Similar to P. guaire but smaller 
and paler, therefore much the palest of the known members of the 
cayennensis group. Spines rather weak, confined to back, about 109 
mm. long by .6mm. wide. Color of upper parts chiefly tawny ochraceous 
lightly lined with blackish, the rump, sides of body, and outer sides of 
hind legs somewhat paler, more buffy; under parts pure white; hind 
