34 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 



Menado, Celebes, August 20, 1916. 

 I returned to Menado about a week ago from south of Amoerang in the 

 mountains where I had made a camp and stayed for about a'month. There I 

 got a great many rats, including one or possibly two species that I had not 

 before seen in Minahassa. Something that you may find interesting is quite 

 a good series of shrews of two species, one grey and one black. I am looking 

 forward to getting more of these now that I know how to catch them. The 

 ones I have were caught by native boys. I have often tried with 

 " Out-o'-sight " traps to catch these, but without success. To catch them the 



Fig. 36. — Mount Sapoetan, an active volcano in central Minahassa, Celebes. 



natives dig a hole about 4 feet deep and three or four feet in diameter and put 

 corn in the hole as bait. 



I have decided that a slight change in our plans will probably save time, so 

 instead of going from here to Makassar I am going from here to Parigi and 

 work southward from there to the Lake of Posso ; thence to Palopo. Dr. 

 Abbott has written me about the importance of this central part of Celebes 

 ethnologically, and from what I have heard from officials here it must be very 

 interesting country. 



I think if I use Paloe or Parigi as a base and first make a trip north from 

 there I shall have fairly well covered all this northern peninsula. Then I can 

 work southward. 



In Minahassa I have been disappointed at not being able to get more bats 

 and more large mammals. A short time ago I got a large squirrel about the 

 size of a Ratufa which I believe is very rare here. 



