70 On Mammals from the Island of Tobago. 



bunches of bananas or in other simHar liiding-place?, of all 

 the nianinmls of Trinidad. 



In tiie West Indies the murine opossum {Marmosa) occurs 

 on tlie islands of Carriacoiiand Isle Roiide in the Grenadines, 

 as well as on Grenada, Tobago, and Trinidad. 



Das^piis novemcinctus hoph'tes, G. M. Allen. 



Local name. — Tattoo (Tafu). 



Material. — One imperfect skin, without fore limbs or skull, 

 and with the tip of the tail brvd^en. 

 The measurements are : — 



rum. 



Frontal shield 54 



Scapular shield 69 



Thoracic rings (9) 68 



Pelvic shield 95 



Tail ,.... 240 



Tail to the distal edge of the twelfth Loiiy ring. 165 



llemorhs. — This specimen evidently represents a dwarf 

 form of Dasijpus novemcinctus, veiy nearly related to, if not, 

 the Dasypus novemcinctus /lopUtes of Grenada. 



Armadillos were first reported from Tobago in 1658 by 

 C. de Rocliefort, who remarked upon the small size of the 

 local form ; but no definite record of the sjiecies inhabiting 

 the island has ever been published. 



On Grenada armadillos have been known to occur since 

 1667, when they were reported as common there by P^re 

 du Terlre, who also mentioned that all attempts to introduce 

 them into other of the (then) French ishinds had met with 

 I'ailure. During a visit of some weeks to Grenada in 1904 I 

 found that armadillos were not at all uncommon there, though 

 I did not succeed in securing any specimens. For some 

 years the local form had been rcgidarly recorded in the 

 ' Grenada Handbook ' under the name of Dasijpus novem- 

 cinctus. In a })aper published in 1905 (' The Auk,' vol. xxii., 

 July 1905, pp. 270, 271) I wrote, " To-day Grenada is the 

 only island (except, of course, Tobago and Trinidad) where 

 the Armadillo is found," and remarked that it was still called 

 there by the same name, Tatu, under which it was referred 

 to by du Tertrc and ].al>at. In I'JIO Dr. G iM. Allen visited 

 the island and secured three specimens, upon which he based, 

 in the following year, the name Dasijpus novemcinctus hoplitcs. 



The typical form, Dasijpus novemcinctus novemcinctus, 

 occurs in Trinidad. 



