1896.] ON SOME MAMMALS FEOM ECUADOB. 607 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On some Mammals from Ecuador. 

 By W. E. DE WiNTON, F.Z.S. 



[Received Mnrch 17, 1896.] 



(Plates XIX. & XX.) 



In tho 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 Soderstrdm, H.M. Consul at Quito. The 

 collection consisted principally of a large number of beautifully 

 prepared bird-skius, 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 Pudua. Since Bennett described the 

 type in the P. Z. S. 1831, p. 27, from a female then living in the 

 Society's Gardens, as Ca-vus 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 

 Ichihyomys, the curious fish-eating rodents, described by Oldfield 

 Thomas in the P. Z. S. 1893, pp. 337-340, hitherto known only 

 from the great eastern slope of the Andes. The third specimen is ■ 

 one of the well-kno«n Water-Opossum (Chironectes minimus), of 

 wide range in troiiical South America. 



Very little is known of the mammalian fauna oF the country 

 from which this collection \\as 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 

 w-orld, 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 

 Amfizonian water-shed: it is a vast tableland about 11,000 feet 

 above the sea, with mountains of between 18,000 and 19,000 feet 

 to north and south of it; these are the siimmils of the Eastern 

 Cordilleras and are mostly active volcanoes. The Eio Machan- 

 gara, where the Ichthyomys was obtained, is the stream upon 

 which Quito is built ; it joins the Eio 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 Eiver, which 

 is to the west of Quito and joins the Guallabamba lower down, its 

 course being entirely on the west of the Cordillerasi 



