﻿Eigenmann: Fishes of Panama 



7 



Concerning the Tuyra-Atrato region Selfridge 4 says in part, 

 pp. 65-66: 



On the Atlantic side the alluvial plain of the Atrato extends close up to 

 the spurs jutting out from the divide, and there is found an amount of level 

 ground that nowhere exists on the other side. This appearance that 

 impressed me so strongly on my first reconnaissance to Paya, coupled with 

 the favorable report of the Pacific slope from previous explorers, gave me 

 strong hopes that our explorations in this part of the Isthmus would be 

 crowned with success. 



On the Pacific side our survey from the mouth of the Paya to the Cue 

 as well as up that river, indicated plainly that this whole region is a broken 

 country, traversed by deep ravines and hills of moderate height. 



From Chipigana to Santa Maria the country is a flat plain, with a rise 

 in this distance of about 10 feet. Prom Santa Maria to Pinogona, as also 

 to the mouth of the Cupe within a half mile of the river, it is generally level, 

 with here and there elevations of from 25 to 100 feet. The mouth of the 

 Cupe is 48 feet above the sea. 



Above the Cupe the whole characteristics of the country change. A line 

 within half a mile of the river, and often closer, is obliged to cross several 

 ranges of hills, known among the natives as the Paloma, the Tres Veces de 

 Parva, the Paca, and the Loma de Diablo, which vary in height from 250 to 

 400 feet. Various reconnaissances were made to see if these hills could be 

 turned, but they resulted in only finding still higher ground as one receded 

 from the river. The mouth of the Paya is 144 feet above sea-level, and the 

 Cue 179 feet, 



The height of the divide at the point crossed by the survey is 710, and 

 through that of the so-called Cacarica Pass is 410 feet. 



On the Atlantic side of the divide the descent is much more abrupt, a 

 fall of 200 feet being met with within a mile of the summit, 



The fishes of the Tuyra were made known by Meek and Hilde- 

 brand in two papers in Field Museum Natural History Publica- 

 tions, Zoological Series, X, one issued in 1914, the other in 1918. 



Only one paper earUer than these considers the fauna of the 

 Tuyra 5 . 



The Atrato-Tuyra faunae problem is comparatively simple. 

 Fifty species of fishes have been taken in the Tuyra. One hundred 

 and four species are known from the two rivers, of which 19 or 

 over 18 per cent are found in both rivers. Thirty-eight per cent 

 of the Tuyra fishes are found in the Atrato. 



4 Selfridge, in his Reports of Explorations and Surveys to ascertain the Practicability 

 of a Ship-Canal between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by the way of the Isthmus of 

 Darien, Washington, 1874, gives an account of the region between the Atrato and the 

 Pacific ocean via the Tuyra. 



5 Boulenger, G. A., "Poissons de l'Amerique Centrale. Viaggio del Dott. Enrico 

 Festa nel Darien e regione vicine." Bolletino, Mus. Zool. Anat. comp. delta Univ. di 

 Torino. XIV, No. 346, April 29, 1899. This paper deals largely with marine fishes 

 in the estuaries along the Pacific side of Darien. 



