1896.] ON SOME MAMMALS FROM ECUADOR. 507 
The following papers were read :— 
1. On some Mammals from Ecuador. 
By W. E. pe Winton, F.Z.S. 
[Received March 17, 1896.] 
(Plates XIX. & XX.) 
In the absence of Mr. Oldfield Thomas, I have been entrusted 
by Sir William Flower with the working out of a small collection 
of mammals from Ecuador, presented to the British Museum 
by Mr. Ludovicio Séderstrém, H.M. Consul at Quito. The 
collection consisted principally of a large number of beautifully 
prepared bird-skins, chiefly Humming-birds ; but though only three 
mammals were included, these furnish us with a knowledge of two 
very interesting species new to science. One is a distinct species 
of small deer of the genus Pudue. Since Bennett described the 
type in the P. Z.S. 1831, p. 27, from a female then living in the 
Society's Gardens, as Cervus humilis, no additional species have 
been discovered ; and as this animal has been found only in the 
forests of Chili and on the adjacent island of Chiloe, the more 
northern habitat of an allied species is of special interest. The 
second specimen in the collection adds a third species to the genus 
Ichthyomys, the curious fish-eating rodents, described by Oldfield 
Thomas in the P. Z. 8. 1898, pp. 337-340, hitherto known only 
from the great eastern slope of the Andes. The third specimen is 
one of the well-known Water-Opossum (Chironectes minimus), of 
wide range in tropical South America. 
Very little is known of the mammalian fauna of the country 
from which this coliection was made; but we may hope, with 
the kind assistance of such a good collector and keen naturalist 
as our present Consul, before long to considerably improve our 
knowledge, and I have great pleasure in naming one of the 
species in his honour. 
Quito has the distinction of being the highest capital in the 
world, situated between the Eastern and Western Cordilleras in 
a lofty valley about 9000 feet above sea-level. The Paramo 
of Papallacta, whence the new Pudu comes, lies east of Quito, 
only just south of the Equator, and forms the roof of the great 
Amazonian water-shed: it is a vast tableland abont 11,060 feet 
above the sea, with mountains of between 18,000 and 19,000 feet 
to north and south of it; these are the summits of the Eastern 
Cordilleras and are mostly active volcanoes. The Rio Machan- 
gara, where the Jchthyomys was obtained, is the stream upon 
which Quito is built; it joins the Rio de San Pedro a little 
further north, and this river, draining the valley between’ the 
two ranges, is thence known as the Guallabamba, which, cutting 
through the Western Cordilleras, flows into the Pacific Ocean. 
The Opossum comes from the banks of the Nanegal River, which 
is to the west of Quito and joins the Guallabamba lower down, its 
course being entirely on the west of the Cordilleras. 
