1910.] The Chrysochloridce. 255 



situated on external border, parastyhi prominent, a median external notch. 

 Lower molars retaining high trigonid, low talonid and i)ostero-external 

 cingulum-fossa for the reception of the protocone; no hyjioconid. Dental 

 formula: |44i' Posterior mental foramina below nij (below the last pre- 

 molar in Hyopsodontida:', Leptictidpe Erinaceidte, Tupaiidiie; cf. Matthew. 

 1909, p. 126). 



Skull subcylindrical. Nasals fused proximally (in adult); malar absent, 

 long low sagittal crest, broad occiput. Mastoid facing obliquely outward 

 rather than liackward (rf. Mirrof/ale, Pofamogalc; contrast however Lep- 

 tictida% Erinaceidse). Infraorbital canal short and wide; lachrymal foramen 

 external, optic foramen very small, foramen lacerum anterius large, foi'amen 

 rotundum united with for. lac. anterius. Lower border of mastoid ^^ith a 

 circular pit near which opens the stylomastoid foramen, and i)robably 

 entocarotid foramen. Glenoid fossa of sc(uamosal facing oblicpiely outward 

 and partly backward; postglenoid process located internally and well 

 separated from post- tympanic process. Fibula not touching calcaneum. 



Solenodont characters. I^ much enlarged, i, with deep internal groove. 

 Pseudoprotocone and hypocone forming small distinct cusps. A prenasal 

 ossicle. Skull retaining a slight interorbital constriction. No tympanic 

 wings on basisphenoid (possibly secondary). Petrosal with a small tympanic 

 process. A "supra-ethmoid" and a "supra- optic" venous foramen. Car- 

 pus specialized in enlarged magnum, and flattened lunar. Astragalus with 

 sharp internal trochlear keel and long neck. 



The general bearing of the preceding analyses is discussed below (p. 267). 



THE CHRYSOCHLORID.E. 



The very thorough researches of Mivart (1867, 1868), Dobson (1887) 

 Leche (1907) and others have demonstrated that the Cape Golden Moles 

 are a very highly specialized but early offshoot of the Zalambdodont stem. 



Far less indubitable however appears Leche's conclusion (1907, pp. 

 141-142) that certain characters {e. g., structure of the zygomatic arch, 

 dental replacement in old animals, relations of the rectus abdominis muscle, 

 etc.) indicate that the Chrysochloridse are the lowest type among all existing 

 Eutheria, and that, although highly aberrant and degenerate in many 

 characters they occupy a more primitive, lower position than does any' other 

 group of Lisectivores and actually approach the JNIonotremes and reptiles ! 



Chrysochhris resembles the Marsupial Mole Nofori/ctes in so many 

 characters that Cope (1892) inferred an immediate genetic connection be- 

 tween the two genera and regarded Notoryctes as a transitional form 

 connecting the Insectivores with the Marsupials. Leche shows that the 



