490 SPECIES OF CAPROMYS chap. 



suggests a Water-Eat of large size (it has been exhibited in shows 

 as a phenomenal product of London sewers !) ; the tail is nearly 

 as long as the body. The ears are small. The limbs are short. 

 The tail is naked. The hind-feet are weighed, but not so much 

 so as in Hi/dromys. A small thumb is present. The animal has 

 thirteen pairs of ribs ; the molars are four in each jaw. The large 

 intestine is more than three times the length of the small, and 

 the caecum is, as in the last genus, relatively short. 



CajJi'omj/s is a genus ^ which is remarkal)le on account of its 

 restricted distribution. It is found only in the islands of Cuba 

 and Jamaica. There are four species, of which C. mclanvrus is a 

 dark brown-coloured animal with a blacker tail, nearly as large 

 as a Rabbit. The native name of this Eodent is " hutia." It is 

 also remarkable for having a stomach more complicated than is 

 the rule among the mammals of this group. The organ is 

 divided Ijy two constrictions into three compartments. In 

 C. j^iforides the liver is occasionally divided up in an extra- 

 ordinary fashion into small lobules. Cajn'omys has the large 

 number of sixteen dorsal vertebrae. 



Fam, 2. Ctenodactylidae. — For these African genera it seems 

 admissible to form a distinct family, though Thomas, and Flower 

 and Lydekker, only allow t(i the genera Ctenodactylus, Pectinator, 

 and Massoutiera sub-family rank. On the other hand, Tulll)erg 

 removed these genera entirely from the Hystricomorph section 

 and placed them as a section of the sulj-tribe Myomorphi of tlie 

 tribe Sciurognathi. It was chiefly the form of the mandible 

 which led to this placing, for in these Rodents, as in all Squirrel- 

 and Rat-like Rodents, and unlike what is found in the Hystrici- 

 form genera, the angular process of the mandil:»le is not lient 

 sideways. 



The genus Ctcnodaetylus derives its name from the peculiar 

 strong Ijristles which form a comb-like structure upon the hind- 

 feet and hide the claws ; these are stated to be for the purpose 

 of dressing the fur. The Gundi of North Africa, C. gvMdi, has a 

 length of 190 mm., with a short tail of 17 mm. The ears are 

 only moderate in size. The dental formula of the molars is ^. 

 The incisors are white. The feet have four digits, and the hind- 

 limbs are the longer. The large intestine is distinctly longer 

 than the small intestine. 



1 See Dobson, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1884, p. 233. 



