ALLEN: MAMMALS OF THE WEST INDIES. 203 



or considered it synonymous with D. cristata. Apparently, however, 

 the St. Vincent agouti is a valid race of the Trinidad species, and to it 

 therefore Gray's name will apply. The specimen in the collection 

 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology is an adult female, procured 

 in February, 1904, by Mr. Austin H. Clark. It seems to represent a 

 smaller animal than that of Trinidad, with a hind foot of about 95 mm. 

 instead of 109 or 110 as in the latter. The skull is markedly smaller, 

 with a shorter and more sharply tapering rostrum, shorter nasals, 

 and a shorter median frontal suture. The maxillary pit at the inner 

 side of the antorbital foramen is smaller, and circular, instead of large 

 and oval, as in the Trinidad animal. The lachrymal canal opens on 

 the upper side of this pit. The skull measures as follows (in paren- 

 theses are measurements of a Trinidad skull) : — greatest length, 94 

 (104); basal length, 69 (76); palatal length, 34 (42); median length 

 of nasals, 31.4 (36.5); median length of frontal suture, 38 (44): zygo- 

 matic width, 48 (48); upper diastema, 24.5 (29); upper cheek teeth 

 (alveoli), 15.5 (17). The skin accompanying the St. Vincent skull 

 seems redder than usual, but can be practically matched with Trinidad 

 skins. 



Dasyprocta antillensis Sclater. 



Dasyprocta antillensis Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1874, 

 p. 666, pi. 82. 



Two skulls of the agouti from Sta. Lucia seem to show that it is 

 distinct from that of St. Vincent, or of Trinidad, although the skins 

 do not appear to differ. 



In 1874, Sclater described two living agoutis received from Sta. 

 Lucia by the Zoological Society of London. These he compares 

 with D. punctata of Central America; and notes a specimen from St. 

 Vincent in the British Museum, which he considers the same as his 

 Sta. Lucia animals. He proposes to call the West Indian animal D. 

 antillensis, and gives a plate of it. Since his description was evidently 

 based on Sta. Lucia specimens, the name antillensis may stand for 

 the agouti of this island. It is nearly the same in size as the Trinidad 

 agouti, but with notably shorter nasals, which tend to be narrower, 

 and to taper slightly at the distal end. The rostrum is noticeably 

 shorter; and the incisive foramina are prolonged posteriorly to reach 

 the maxillo-intermaxillary suture, instead of ending some 3 or 4 mm. 

 anterior to it. The pit in the maxillary bone at the inner side of the 

 antorbital fossa is smaller and more nearly circular. 



