j'^jLS .M. Reinhardt on Carterodon sulcidens. 



r codzis, under the name oi A. Teinminckii^, but which Mr. Water- 

 house has recently proposed as the type of a distinct genus, Car- 

 terodonf. But as Lund never succeeded in obtaining the ani- 

 mal itself, and as Waterhouse had no other materials at his 

 disposal than the crania fractured by the Cave-owl, all that was 

 /known of this new genus consisted of an outline of the head and 

 the nature of the teeth. I am in a position to supply some of 

 the desiderata, having lately been fortunate enough to procure a 

 nearly full-grown female and a half-grown young, from which 

 I now take the following short description of this remarkable 

 animal. 



Carterodon sulcidens has somewhat the appearance of a large 

 Hypudaus, it being a clumsily -built animal, with a large head, 

 .a short, blunt snout, small eyes, rounded low ears, which how- 

 ever extend beyond the fur-covering ; and short limbs and tail. 

 . The upper part of the body is clothed with long bristles; 

 among these are mixed spines, which entirely resemble in struc- 

 ture those of most of the other members of the family, but are 

 scarcely broader than half a millimetre, and end in a hair-like 

 point, long and flexible, and so far from pricking, that it is 

 scarcely perceptible to the touch. They become narrower and 

 fewer down the sides of the animal, until they quite disappear 

 on the under side, where the covering consists of stiff bristles 

 only. 



The dental system having been figured and exhausted by Lund 

 and Waterhouse, I pass it over here. 



The ears are almost as broad as they are long, and covered, 

 both internally and externally, with short soft hairs, more dense 

 towards the margins, but not enough to conceal the skin en- 

 tirely. 



The naked spot which surrounds the nostrils is of small 

 spread ; and between it, and the margin of the upper lip, is seen 

 a rather broad band, thickly covered with very short whitish 

 hair. 



The extremities, especially the hinder, are very short ; the an- 

 terior are proportionally broader. The toes, being (as usual in 

 the family) five on each foot, are, with exception of the innermost, 

 connected by means of a rather developed skin. Their relative 

 length resembles that usual among Echinomyds. The rudi- 

 mentary thumb of the fore-foot is furnished with a flat nail ; the 

 other toes have gently curved, rather long claws, which in the 

 fore-legs are inconsiderably shorter than in the hind ones ;„at 



* Fortsatte Bemserkninger, &c. (Continuation of Remarks on the 

 .Defunct Animal Creation of Brazil), p. 16. 



t Natural History of Mammalia, vol. ii. pp. 351-353. pi. 16. fig. ^ ^n 



