NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN 83 



hunting clubs using hounds. A fine male specimen obtained through 

 the Gatun Hunting Club was shot one morning near the shore of 

 Gatun Lake by a member who was stationed only about ioo yards 

 from me — so near that I heard the animal tearing its way through the 

 undergrowth before the baying hounds, and heard its heavy fall 

 following the report of my companion's rifle. Like all of the larger 

 terrestrial mammals inhabiting the forests of the region this tapir 

 was infested with ticks, which become troublesome when numbers 

 begin crawling up one's arms ; they take advantage of every contact 

 with the animal during the skinning process and transportation of 

 the skin to affix themselves to one's body. The tapirs often escape 

 the hounds by entering the water. As Captain Dow has indicated 

 they are seldom hunted by natives of the Canal Zone, but when killed 

 by foreigners the flesh is sometimes eaten by certain classes of the 

 native population. 



The species is known to reach about the same altitude on the 

 mountains of western, as of eastern Panama. Bangs (1902, p. 22) 

 records the collection of a fine old male adult by W. W. Brown, Jr., 

 at 5,000 feet, near Boquete on the southern slope of the Volcan de 

 Chiriqui. Anthony (1916, p. 365) mentions noting frequently the 

 tracks of this species in the Canal Zone and on the slopes of Mount 

 Tacarcuna. 



While no specimens of the South American tapir, Tapirns ter~ 

 restris, are known from Panama, a skull of this species in the U. S. 

 National Museum is labeled as collected by William M. Gabb in 

 Talamanca, Costa Rica, along with a number of skulls of Tapirella 

 bairdii from the same locality. There seems to be nothing irregular 

 about the record of this skull, but occurrence of the species so far 

 north lacks confirmation. 



Specimens examined : Boquete, 1 * ; Cana, 2 ; Gatun, 2 ; Mount 

 Hope (near Colon), 1 ; Mount Pirre, 1. 



Order RODENTIA. Rodents 

 Family MURIDAE 



Rats, Mice 

 The family Muridse includes a large number of species of rat-like 

 animals, many of which are much alike in general external appear- 

 ance, their differential characters becoming fully apparent only when 

 the skulls and teeth are examined. 



1 Collection Mus. Comp. Zool. 



