22 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



noticeably higher than long, whereas in Ardops and in Ariteus 

 the crown of this tooth is short and thick, scarcely or not higher 

 than long (Miller, 1907). In contrast to the related genus 

 Stenoderma, the rostrum of the skull rises above the level of the 

 low supraorbital ridges and the nasal opening extends much 

 less than halfway back to the point of union of these ridges. In 

 addition, the third upper molar is still more minute, and the 

 second upper molar is scarcely three-fourths the size of the 

 first instead of nearly equaling it in crown area. In P. falcatus 

 the head and body measure about 1.9 inches; the tail is absent; 

 forearm, 1.65 inches; tibia, 0.6 inch; hind foot, 0.4 inch. The 

 fur is described as gray-brown, with dark tips; the lower side is 

 slightly paler. 



The species described from Cuba as P. vetus is smaller than 

 P. falcatus in its skull, the palatal emargination is narrower, 

 and the small third upper molar is nearly circular instead of oval. 

 The Hispaniolan species, P. haitiensis, is of about the same 

 size as P. vetus but differs in the sudden contraction of the V-- 

 shaped palatal emargination near its tip and in the apparent 

 lack of the shallow pits in the basioccipital. 



Very little is known of the habits or status of these three 

 bats. Both P. falcatus and P. vetus are Cuban, while P. 

 haitiensis is at present known from Hispaniola only. The 

 first was sent by MacLeay to the British Museum, in 1838 or 

 1839, with the note, "Killed in my bedroom." Gundlach 

 mentions specimens from Matanzas and Cardenas, and in 1914 

 I examined two skulls taken from owl pellets in eastern Cuba 

 by Dr. Charles T. Ramsden. In 1917, Dr. H. E. Anthony, in 

 the course of excavations in a cave at Daiquiri, eastern Cuba, 

 secured seven fragmentary skulls and four mandibles. Al- 

 though he did not find the species alive, he mentions "an almost 

 perfect skull taken from an owl pellet collected by Mr. Barnum 

 Brown ... at the 'Cueva de los Machos' near Cienfue- 

 gos." "The material," he writes (1919), "is, for the most part, 

 fresh in appearance and not deeply discolored, some of it very 

 recent in fact." In addition, there is a specimen in alcohol in 

 the U. S. National Museum from Santiago, Cuba. Of P. vetus, 

 discovered by Dr. Anthony in the cave deposits at Daiquiri, 

 eastern Cuba, about 40 skulls were obtained. He states that 

 it was "found as a fossil and judging from the condition of the 

 specimens evidently has not been frequenting this region since 



