14 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



is unknown. In the 30 years that have since elapsed I have 

 no knowledge of the capture of any others. Efforts of various 

 naturalists to discover it in eastern Cuba have been unavailing, 

 and even Herr Thumb, who was so successful in finding S. 

 paradoxus in the Dominican Republic with the aid of his dog, 

 failed to find it when in 1937 he hunted for it in that region. 



Very little is known of its habits. It was believed to have 

 lived in caves, but, curiously, the researches of Dr. H. E. 

 Anthony and others in cave excavations have revealed very 

 little even in the way of recent remains, although bones of the 

 much smaller Nesophontes are common. The Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology, however, has a lower jaw from a cave 

 at San Lucas, near Maisi, eastern Cuba. This paucity of cave 

 fragments may indicate that the animal was little preyed upon 

 by owls, perhaps on account of its size and strength, but was 

 rather secure in holes among rocks such as the Hispaniolan 

 species makes use of. Captive animals are said to have eaten 

 the meat of chickens, either raw or cooked, while the one 

 captured by the Swedish engineers ate freely of raw beef given 

 in small pieces. With the introduction and spread of the Bur- 

 mese mongoose in Cuba, it is very possible that this voracious 

 carnivore may already have exterminated the last of the 

 solenodons. The loss of either of the two species is greatly to 

 be deplored, since they are in the New World the last living 

 representatives of the group of insectivores with triangular 

 instead of squarish molars, the Zalambdodonta, found else- 

 where at the present time only in Africa (the potamogale) and 

 on the island of Madagascar (the Madagascar hedgehog and 

 its relatives). 



Family SORICIDAE: Shrews 



WHITE MOUNTAINS DWARF SHREW 



SOREX MYOPS Merriam 



ftorex teneUus myops Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 15, p. 76, Mar. 22, 

 1902 (Pipers Creek [Cottonwood Creek], near main peak of White Mountains, 

 altitude 9,500 feet, Mono County, California). 



FIGS.: Jackson, H. H. T., 1928, pi. 3, fig. B'; pi. 6, tig. R (skull). 



Few specimens of this tiny shrew are known. In color the 

 back is drab, the lower parts pale smoke gray tinged with pale 



