ALLEN: NEW FOSSIL MAMMALS FROM CUBA. O 



Synodontomys, gen. nov. 



Type Species. — Capromys colwnhianus Chapman (1892, p. 314, 



fig. 3). 



Generic Characters. — A ( 'aprom ys-like animal of the size of C. 

 pilorides, with a V-shaped paUite that narrows anteriorly until the 

 anteriormost molariforni teeth (pni*) nearly touch the median axis, 

 and are only separated from each other by the thin bony walls of 

 their alveoli. Pattern of upper cheek teeth apparently similar to 

 that of Capromys, with two outer reentrant folds of enamel and one 

 median inner fold; but apparently these folds slope rather strongly 

 forward (as indicated by the forward direction of the small vertical 

 ridges of the alveoli) instead of being as in Capromys nearly trans- 

 verse. In outline the molariform teeth are very nearly square instead 

 of elongate or rectangular as in Capromys, and are subequal in size. 



In the close approximation of the maxillary tooth rows, this genus 

 recalls Mvocastor, but differs in the tooth structure. 



The three species found among the fragments in the block of bone- 

 breccia from Matanzas are the following. 



INSECTIVORA. 

 ?Nesophontes micrus, sp. nov. 

 Plate, fig. 14. 



Type. — A posterior half of the right ramus, containing a part of 

 pvii, in\, m->, and the roots of m^, M. C. Z. 9600. From a cavern in the 

 Sierra of Hato-Xuevo, Province of Matanzas, Cuba. Carlos de la 

 Torre. 



Description. — The fragment indicates an animal considerably 

 smaller than Nesophontes edithae of Porto Rico, but the jaw was evi- 

 dently similar in the general form of the angulare and the ascending 

 process. The ramus, however, seems proportionally more slender, 

 without the depth of curve beneath the molars. The molars differ 

 from those of the type sf)ecies of Nesophontes (1) in being less elongate 

 in the axis of the tooth row; (2) in decreasing in size from mi to ma; 

 (3^ in lacking a certain ' plumpness ' of form that is found in Soleno- 

 don as well; and (4) in the lack of a space between the posterior border 

 of nii and the ascending process of the mandible. 



