NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN III 



mosals are less extended laterally as postglenoid shelves, the margin 

 being deeply notched and exposing much of the tubular portion of 

 the bulla when viewed from above. 



The home of one of these pocket gophers is a network of tunnels 

 in the ground, along the lines of which large piles of earth are pushed 

 out at irregular intervals. During the dry season few fresh work- 

 ings are seen, but with the return of the rainy season their greater 

 activity is shown by the numerous mounds of fresh earth excavated. 

 They work mainly during the early morning and evening hours and 

 at night. In the vicinity of Cana the pocket gophers are generally 

 distributed over the forested slopes of the mountains up to about 

 2,500 feet altitude, but are most numerous in clearings, owing no 

 doubt to the greater abundance of succulent roots and small plants 

 available as food. Sugar-cane and banana fields on steep mountain 

 slopes are especially favored. Banana and sugar-cane stalks are cut, 

 and grass and other vegetation bitten off at the surface of the 

 ground. Sugar-cane stalks are drawn gradually into the holes, the 

 animal feeding at the basal end until nearly the whole is consumed. 

 When one hole was opened a number of freshly cut grass stems — 

 sections about three inches in length — were disclosed, all neatly piled 

 at one side of the tunnel. Gophers also bore in ditch banks and are 

 occasionally responsible for troublesome breaks in the ditches of the 

 Darien Gold Mining Company. Gopher workings were noted at 

 intervals along the railroad between the mines and the landing on the 

 Tuyra River at Boca de Cupe. Specimens from the latter locality, 

 where the altitude is about 250 feet, do not differ appreciably from 

 those taken near Cana. The species therefore ranges from very low 

 elevations upward over the basal slopes of the mountains in the 

 Darien region. No traces of pocket gophers were seen in or near 

 the Canal Zone, and there is no record of their occurrence in the 

 central part of the republic. Native names at Boca de Cupe are 

 " dueho de tierra " and " chuchupa." 



Anthony (1916, p. 369) encountered the species at Boca de Cupe, 

 Tacarcuna and Tapalisa, the two latter localities on the northern side 

 of the Tuyra Valley. The highest workings noted by him were at 

 about 4,200 feet. 



Specimens examined: Boca de Cupe, 7 1 ; Cana (type locality), n ; 

 Tacarcuna, 5"; Tapalisa, I. 2 



1 Three in collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



2 Collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



