Along the Esseouebo and Potaro. 115 



while Champsa has been given to those in which such a 

 ridge is found ; so that a certain amount of confusion is 

 attached to the subject. 



These reptiles are said to be extremely plentiful in the 

 higher parts of the river above Ouropocari, but in the 

 lower parts, they are but seldom met with ; and although 

 we saw them in the water, and on the sandbanks occa- 

 sionally, in the distance, the young specimen shot on the 

 dry land was the only one obtainable. 



Early on Friday morning, we came in sight of Arrisaro 

 mountain, situated on the eastern or right bank, and 

 rising to a height of more than 700 feet above the sea- 

 level ; but it was not till late in the afternoon that we reached 

 it and camped on the sand, on the left bank, facing the 

 mountain. A great part of the morning was spent in 

 hunting, and in skinning the specimens obtained, and 

 among them a fine collared peccary or abouyah (Dico- 

 tyles torquatus) that was shot by one of the Indian 

 huntsmen— a most welcome addition to our collection, 

 giving a chance for the renewal of the faded speci- 

 men which had done duty for a very long time in the 

 Museum, as well as affording a supply of fresh meat. 

 The peccaries, of which there are only two species, area 

 peculiarly interesting type of the ungulate animals, and 

 are the only American representatives of the great group 

 of the pigs (Suida). They are characteristic of the 

 Neotropical region, though ranging into the Neardtic, 

 to the southern parts of the United States. They 

 differ from the other pigs, chiefly, in possessing only four 

 instead of six upper incisor teeth, in being destitute of a 

 tail, and of the fourth supplemental hind toe ; while they 

 are furnished with a peculiar dorsal gland, opening on the 



P2 



