NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 27 



juices on which they largely feed. Probably pollen and flower 

 nectar are also eaten. A small hastate nose-leaf is present at 

 the tip of the snout, and the interfemoral membrane is narrow, 

 extending only to the middle of the tibia. The calcar is absent 

 altogether. In each jaw, both upper and lower, there are two 

 incisors, a canine, two premolars, and three molars. The last 

 are rather weak and rounded, the second and third lower 

 molars without cusps, a character contrasting with the condi- 

 tion in the related genus Erophylla, occurring in the same 

 regions. The Puerto Rican Phyllonycteris major is decribed as 

 closely related to the Cuban P. poeyi, but "noticeably larger, 

 with wider brain case and heavier dentition"; greatest length 

 of skull, 27-28 mm.; breadth of brain case, 11.4 mm. The 

 form from Haiti, P. obtusa, is described as very similar to the 

 Cuban species "but incisive foramina smaller and anterior 

 border of premaxillaries as viewed in palatine aspect less 

 narrowly curved." Greatest length of skull, 22.2 mm.; breadth 

 of brain case, 10.2 mm. 



During the course of his investigations in Puerto Rico caves, 

 Dr. H. E. Anthony found no evidence that P. major is still 

 living in that island. In only one cave, that near Morovis, did 

 he find its remains, including about 60 skulls and many jaws. 

 This may indicate not only that it was a cave-dweller, like its 

 Cuban relative, but also that its choice of caves and perhaps 

 even its numbers were limited. "It was contemporaneous 

 with Nesophontes as well as with Stenoderma ruficm and other 

 bats to be found living today." Concerning the Hispaniolan 

 P. obtusa, Miller (1929a) writes that remains were found in 

 three distinct places: "The crooked cave near the Atalaye 

 plantation, St. Michel, Haiti," a skull and mandible; a skull 

 from a cave near Port-de-Paix; and a skull from owl pellets 

 found in a cave at Diquini. The last implies that the skulls 

 were fairly recent, and very likely the species may still be 

 found there living, although none of the various collections of 

 bats made in Hispaniola has hitherto yielded specimens. It is, 

 as in other cases, difficult to assign an exact reason for the 

 decline of such a species. Nevertheless, since it depends on 

 a constant supply the year around of various fruits and berries 

 in their season, it is obvious that any material changes in the 

 forest or shrub covering, if this eliminated or reduced any one 

 species of fruit even for a short critical season, might have a 

 disastrous effect. 



