No. 12. — Vertebrata from the Savanna of Panama.^ 



CONTENTS. 



Page 



I. Introduction. By Outram Bangs 211 



II. Mammalia. By Outram Bangs 212 



III. Aves. By John E. Thayer and Outram Bangs 213 



IV. Reptilia and Amphibia. By Thomas Barbour 224 



V. Pisces. By Samuel Garman 229 



I. Introduction. By Outram Bangs. 



In the process of the John E. Thayer Expedition of 1904, Mr. W. W. 

 Brown, Jr., spent nearly a month — the greater part of May, 1904 — near 

 the city of Panama, making general collections of vertebrates. 



The region is quite different in character from the hilly, heavily forested 

 interior of the Isthmus, and is described in a letter by Mr. Brown as 

 follows : " My headquarters are at Calidonia at the edge of the swamp 

 of Panama, about a mile from the seashore and about seventy-five yards 

 from the beginning of the mangroves. Toward the north and northeast, 

 the low flat country or Savanna of Panama extends for some four or 

 five miles, gradually rising, to the hills. This is a grassy plain, very dry 

 and burnt in appearance, especially in the dry season, with little patches 

 of wood — island like — scattered about here and there. Near the city of 

 Panama there are several orange groves, where I collected Blue-creepers 

 and some Tanagers that I did not see elsewhere." 



We did not expect any novel results in the way of species from this 

 collection, but the region is so different — dry and barren — from the 

 country farther inland, at Loma del Leon, etc., where most of the bird 

 collecting on the Isthmus has been done, that we felt it quite worth 

 while to have a representative series from the Savanna of Panama. 



Mr. Garman in his list includes the fishes from Gorgona Island and 

 the Pearl Islands, as well as those from the vicinity of Panama, while 

 Mr. Barbour notices the reptiles and amphibians from the vicinity of 

 Panama and from the Pearl Islands. 



1 Papers from the John E. Thayer Expedition of 1904, No. 3. 

 VOL. xLvi. — No. 12 14 



