212 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



was of a gray mixed color, somewhat less than a rabbit, with rat-like 

 ears and tail. It was considered excellent food, and already was 

 becoming scarce but fifty years after the discovery by Columbus. 

 This animal is supposed to have been one of the long-tailed Capromys. 

 Possibly it was Plagiodontia, described and figured nearly three hun- 

 dred years later by F. Cuvier, though MacLeay thought it might be 

 similar to the Cuban C. prchensilis. The Quemi was likewise found 

 in San Domingo; but Oviedo considered it even then extinct. Ac- 

 cording to many persons who had seen it, it was as large as a small 

 hound or beagle, gray like the hutia, and of the same form and pro- 

 portions. MacLeay considers this some form of Capromys related 

 to the Cuban C. pilorides. A third form, called Cori, appears to have 

 had a very short tail ; and is unhesitatingly referred to the Guinea-pig 

 by MacLeay. It is more likely, however, that this was one of the 

 short-tailed Capromys, standing thus midway between that of 

 Jamaica and that of the Plana Keys, Bahamas. The fourth animal 

 is the Mohuy, the size of a hutia, but clearer gray, and with stiffer 

 hair. Possibly this may have been the Plagiodontia, although at this 

 late date, it seems impossible to determine its identity with any 

 assurance. 



Capromys columbianus Chapman. 



Capromys columbianus Chapman, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 1892, 4, p 314, text-figs. 3, 4. 



The fragment on which this species is based was found in a sub- 

 fossil condition in a cave near Trinidad, Cuba. Imbedded in the 

 walls of the cave were found molluscan shells said to be identical 

 with those of existing species, a fact that indicates a recent age for 

 this animal. The portion of the skull discovered shows a palate so 

 strongly contracted at its anterior end that the alveoli of opposite 

 sides are brought nearly into contact. So striking is this difference in 

 the width of the palate that it seems doubtful if the animal described 

 should be considered congeneric with Capromys. 



Plagiodontia aedium F. Cuvier. 



Plagiodontia aedium F. Cuvier, Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool., 1836, ser. 2, 

 6, p. 347, pi. 17. 



Of this interesting animal, nothing further seems to have been 

 discovered since it was first described nearly seventy-five years ago, 

 from San Domingo. 



