NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN WJ 



HETEROMYS DESMARESTIANUS PANAMENSIS Goldman 



Panama Spiny Pocket Mouse 



[Plate 25, figs. 1, la] 



Heteromys panamensis Goldman, Smiths. Misc. Coll., Vol. 56, No. 36, p. 9, 

 February 19, 1912. Type from Cerro Azul, near the headwaters of the 

 Chagres River, Panama (altitude 2,800 feet). 



The Panama spiny pocket mouse is similar to Heteromys d. repens, 

 but still darker in color, the fo're feet blackish instead of white to 

 near the base of the toes. It is distinguished from its near geo- 

 graphic neighbor, H. desmarestianus zonalis of the Canal Zone, by 

 the more ochraceous buffy suffusion of the upperparts, and the skull 

 differs especially in the greater width of the interparietal and corre- 

 spondingly reduced extent of the parietals along the supraoccipital 

 border. 



On the humid slopes of the mountains near the headwaters of the 

 Chagres River this very dark spiny pocket mouse was found inhabit- 

 ing the dense forest from 2,000 feet upward to the summit at about 

 3,000 feet altitude. It was also obtained at about 2,000 feet altitude 

 on Cerro Brujo near the Atlantic coast. The specimens were all 

 taken in traps placed on the ground under fallen logs or near crevices 

 at the base of large trees. 



Specimens examined: Cerro Azul (type locality), 5; Cerro 

 Brujo, 1. 



HETEROMYS DESMARESTIANUS CRASSIROSTRIS Goldman 



Mount Pirre Spiny Pocket Mouse 



[Plate 25, figs. 2, 20] 



Heteromys crassirostris Goldman, Smiths. Misc. Coll., Vol. 60, No. 2, 

 pp. 10-11, September 20, 1912. Type from near head of Rio Limon, 

 Mount Pirre, eastern Panama (altitude 5,000 feet). 



The discovery of this small spiny pocket mouse on Mount Pirre 

 extends the known range of the H. desmarestianus group to near 

 the eastern frontier of Panama, and it doubtless enters Colombian 

 territory. It is similar to H. desmarestianus panamensis, but smaller ; 

 as in that form the ankles are dusky all around. The skull is remark- 

 able for the unusual breadth of the rostrum. 



The spiny pocket mice were evidently numerous at from 4,500 to 

 about 5,000 feet altitude on the densely forested upper slopes of the 

 mountains in the vicinity of the type locality. They were trapped in 

 worn runways under logs where the moist surface is often fairly 

 covered with small tracks and claw marks, and at holes in over- 



