ALLEN: FOSSIL MA-MMALS FROM CUBA. 137 



expanded, and has an entepicondylar foramen, as well as a large 

 supratrochlear perforation, which when present in Solenodon, is small. 

 Two small radii that are presumably referable to Nesophontes, differ 

 markedly from that of Solenodon in being much less flattened, and 

 not unusually broadened at the distal end. The femur, except for 

 its proportionally greater length and slenderness, is the counterpart 

 of that of Solenodon. 



Measurements. — A nearly perfect cranium, probably that of a 

 female, 9,953 M. C. Z., measures as follows: — greatest length 28 mm.; 

 basal length 25; palatal length 13.4; interorbital width 6.5; width 

 of brain-case 11.2; upper tooth-row (alveoli) 12.8; lower jaw, cJ' 

 (9,898 M. C. Z.), greatest length exclusive of incisors 18.5; tooth-row, 

 from front of canine to back of last molar 12. Humerus, greatest 

 length (9,914 M. C. Z.) 14.7 (of N. edithae 25) ; radius (9,947 M. C. Z.) 

 14.5; femur, (^ (9,915 M. C. Z.) 21.5; 9 (9,958 M. C. Z.) 16 (of N. 

 edithae 26.5). 



Mr. H. E. Anthony has kindly placed at my disposal a fine skull 

 of this species, which he collected with others, in a cave at the eastern 

 end of Cuba. It appears to differ in no way from the specimens in the 

 Museum from the western end of the island. A single humerus from 

 a cave in the Sierra de Casas, Isle of Pines, as well as Peterson's (1917, 

 p. 360) recent announcement of the discovery of a poorly preserved 

 skull and ramus establishes the former occurrence of the species on 

 that island as well. The evidence at hand indicates that until a 

 comparatively late date the species was common in Cuba and the Isle 

 of Pines; that it was a primitive type, unmodified either for arboreal 

 or fossorial life, hence probably of shrew-like terrestrial habits. While 

 probably related to the Solenodon stock, its teeth appear to be of a 

 more primitive style and represent what may have been a stage 

 ancestral to the Solenodon molar, in which the paracone was becoming 

 suppressed in favor of the metacone. So fresh is the appearance of 

 some of the jaws obtained, that it would come as no surprise to dis- 

 cover that Nesophontes still exists alive in some isolated part of Cuba. 



It is odd that no remains of the Solenodon have come to light in 

 any of the cave-material collected, except at Maisi, where Seiior V. J. 

 Rodriguez obtained two lower rami, one of which has been presented 

 to the Museum by Professor Carlos de la Torre. These seem in fresh 

 condition, except for a slight reddish discoloration. 



