3314 Zoology of Panama. 



Mammalia are represented in the Isthmus by a variety of forms. 



Hosts of monkeys, including the white-headed Chapolin (Cebus 

 hypoleuca, Gray), inhabit the woods. Bats are numerous : a kind of 

 vampire is common, causing dangerous wounds in the cattle. Dicli- 

 derus Freyreisii, Gray, seems to be a bat peculiar to the Isthmus. 

 The jaguar, or, as the natives call it, "Tigre" (Felis Onca, Linn.), and 

 the puma (Felis concolor, Linn.), vernacularly termed " Leon," are 

 destructive to cattle, but seldom attack man. A gray opossum ( Di- 

 delphis sp.), called " Gato solo" from its solitary habits, is frequent. 

 Several kinds of Cornejos or squirrels are met with. Rats and mice 

 are in the Isthmus, as everywhere else, the plague of the dwellings. 

 The Gato de pachorra, here aud there observed, is a sloth (Brady pus 

 didacfylus, Linn.). Sajinos are frequent, but merely eaten by the 

 dogs. Pigs are wandering in herds about the forest, and dreaded by 

 the natives, who, upon meeting them, try to escape either by taking 

 flight or by climbing a tree. The tapir (Tapirus Americanus, Linn.), 

 Macho de monte, Danta, or Gran bestia of the Panamians, is the lar- 

 gest terrestrial animal of the Isthmian Fauna, although in comparison 

 with the Asiatic species (Tapirus Itidicus), is a mere dwarf. Its flesh 

 is insipid, nevertheless it is eaten : medicinal virtues are ascribed to 

 the hoof, which is taken for paralysis, and a decoction of it is admi- 

 nistered to women after child-birth. 



The only ruminating animal is the Venado, a species of deer (Cer- 

 vus, sp. now?), met with in herds in the savanas. Its horns are not 

 simple, like those of Cervus rufus, Cuv., a common Peruvian animal, 

 but branched and divided. The Venado is about three feet high, and, 

 when young, spotted with white dots ; this colour, however, soon 

 changes into a light brown. The meat, at first very tough, becomes 

 tender when kept awhile, or boiled with Papaya. The hide is con- 

 verted into a soft yet durable leather, well adapted for boots in so hot 

 a climate. The Venados are easily domesticated. Mr. J. Agnew, a 

 gentleman in David, had one which had been reared by a bitch, and 

 possessed the habits of a dog, eating meat, running about the house, 

 and following its master. The people of Veraguas have a curious 

 mode of hunting them. The bone of a pelican's wing is covered on 

 one end with a peculiar kind of cobweb, which forms an instrument 

 imitating the cry of a young deer so closely, that the old ones, in the 

 belief that some mishap has befallen their kid, repair to the place 

 whence the sound proceeds, and are shot. The hunters frequently 

 return with twelve or sixteen of them after one day's sport. 



The sea, on the Pacific shore, is frequented by porpoises and black 



