NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN 12J 



or Nicaragua. D. punctata isthmica of the Canal Zone and western 

 Panama is distinguished externally from D. punctata punctata by 

 less rich ruf escent general coloration, and from D. punctata dariensis, 

 its geographic neighbor on the east, by the more nearly uniform color 

 of the back and rump. The elongated hairs of the rump are orange 

 buffy like the back, instead of silvery gray or very pale buffy as in 

 D. p. dariensis of eastern Panama. 



In the Canal Zone the agoutis live in burrows, usually along steep 

 banks or in rocky places. From the entrances well-beaten paths lead 

 off a few yards through the forest undergrowth, or may connect 

 holes at various points along the front of a ledge. In places their 

 paths up the steep faces of cliffs have been used so long that they are 

 worn deeply into the surface of rather soft sandstone. The agoutis 

 are mainly nocturnal in habits and were shot at night in the forest 

 where they were located by the reflection of their eyes in the field 

 of light projected by a hunting lamp ; but they may also be found 

 abroad during the early morning and late evening hours, and in 

 cloudy or rainy weather nearer the middle of the day. 



One day while hunting near the Chagres River, a short distance 

 below the mouth of the Rio Indio, I came to a low cliff and saw one 

 of these animals run out of the bushes ; it was scaling the rocks as 

 I fired. It fell backward to the ground, and I found a well-worn 

 agouti path leading up at this point. Erosion of the softer rock 

 underneath had left the cliff overhanging near the base so that the 

 animals were obliged to spring upward for about two and a half feet 

 and then scramble up a nearly perpendicular rock on which there 

 appeared to be practically no foothold. Another agouti was seen 

 in a crevice among the rocks in the same vicinity. 



Specimens from western Panama correctly referred to this form by 

 Bangs (1902, p. 47) were collected by W. W. Brown, Jr., on the 

 slope of the Volcan de Chiriqui and near Boquete. The other 

 examples listed by Bangs from southwestern Panama represent speci- 

 mens subsequently described as D. p. nuchalis. 



Anthony (1916, p. 370) records a specimen collected by him at 

 Maxon Ranch on the Rio Trinidad. 



Specimens examined : Boquete, 2 ■ ; Gatun, 10 ; Maxon Ranch 

 (Rio Trinidad), 1 2 ; Rio Indio (near Gatun), 4. 



1 Collection Mus. Comp. Zool. 



3 Collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



