8 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Dr. Anthony has suggested, the remains of these insectivores 

 in the cavern deposits are due to the agency of owls, such as 

 the Cuban barn owl, which even at the present time is building 

 up in some of these caves deposits of bones of introduced rats 

 as well as of bats. These bones, especially skulls, are more or 

 less broken so that complete crania are rare among the deposits. 

 Anthony adduces some evidence that the Nesophontes were 

 abundantly represented in the deposits prior to the deposition 

 of rat bones, so that the introduction of the rats may have 

 been the decisive factor in extermination of the insectivores. 

 Thus the latter may have been extinct only since white occupa- 

 tion. 



NESOPHONTES PARAMICRUS Miller 



Nesophontes paramicrus Miller, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 81, no. 9, p. 3, 1929 



("Large cave near St. Michel, Haiti"). 

 FIGS.: Miller, 1929a, pi. 1, fig. 1 (skeletal remains); 1930, pi. 2, figs. 2, 3 (rostrum). 



NESOPHONTES HYPOMICRUS Miller 



Nesophontes hypomicrus Miller, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 81, no. 9, p. 4, 1929 



("Deep cave near the Atalaye plantation [near St. Michel], Haiti"). 

 FIGS.: Miller, 1929a, pi. 1, fig. 2 (skeletal remains); 1930, pi. 2, fig. 1 (rostrum). 



NESOPHONTES ZAMICRUS Miller 



Nesophontes zamicrus Miller, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 81, no. 9, p. 7, 1929 ("Large 



cave near St. Michel, Haiti"). 

 FIG.: Miller, 1929a, pi. 1, fig. 3 (skeletal remains). 



These three insectivores, apparently extinct and known only 

 from skeletal remains found in Hispaniolan caves, may be dis- 

 cussed together. They have no common names. 



They are differentiated from one another largely on size 

 characters. In body dimensions they approximated mice or 

 small rats. 



"Insectivores of the genus Nesophontes are abundantly 

 represented in the Haitian caves. They have not previously 

 been recorded from the island of Hispaniola. In the superficial 

 layer of the cave floors the bones of these animals occur in un- 

 disturbed material along with remains of Epimys rattus [roof 

 rat] and Mus musculus [house mouse]. This association is so 

 intimate that there appears to be no reason to doubt the 

 simultaneous occurrence of the insectivores and the introduced 

 rodents. Some of the jaws of Nesophontes are more fresh in 



