90 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



MARTINIQUE MUSK-RAT; "PILORIE" 

 MEGALOMYS DESMARESTII (J. B. Fischer) 



Miis desmarestii J. B. Fischer, Synopsis Mammalium, p. 316, 1829 ("In Insula Mar- 



tinica"). 

 SYNONYMS: Mus pilorides Desmarest, Diet. Sci. Nat., vol. 44, p. 483, 1826 (not of 



Pallas, 1778); Hesperomys (Megalomys) pilorides Trouessart, Le Naturaliste, no. 



45, p. 5, 1881; Oryzomys piloris Forsyth Major, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 



7, p. 205, 1901 (based on Castor Piloris of Zimmermann, not a technical name). 

 FIGS.: Geoffrey and Cuvier, 1830, vol. 4, pi. 258 ("Le Pilori"); Trouessart, 1885. 



ST. LUCIA MUSK-RAT 

 MEGALOMYS LUCIAE (Forsyth Major) 



Oryzomys luciae Forsyth Major, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 7, p. 206, Feb., 1901 

 ("Santa Lucia," Lesser Antilles). 



BARBUDA MUSK-RAT 

 MEGALOMYS AUDREYAE Hopwood 



Megalomys audreyae Hopwood, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 17, pp. 328-330, Mar., 



1926 (Barbuda, Lesser Antilles). 

 SYNONYM: Megalomys majori Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. Viv. Foss., ed. 2, pt. 2, p. 415, 



1904 (nomen nudum). 

 FIG.: Hopwood, 1926, pi. 12. 



The so-called "Musk-rat of the Antilles" may formerly 

 have occurred on most of the islands of the Lesser Antilles, 

 but it has by now probably been quite exterminated. Although 

 its range may once have been more extensive, it is certainly 

 known only from the islands of Martinique (the typical form, 

 M. desmarestii), St. Lucia (the smaller form, M. luciae), and 

 from the little island of Barbuda, where a sub fossil jaw was 

 found. These were rather large rodents, with a head and body 

 length up to 360 mm. (14.5 inches) and tail only a little shorter, 

 and belong to the group of sigmodont species, abundantly 

 represented in South and Central America. 



Th Martinique form was the one first named and is the 

 larger of the two known from complete specimens. Trouessart 

 describes a specimen in the Paris Museum as having the head 

 and body 360 mm. long, the tail 330 mm. The head was 

 rather short in appearance and rounded, the muzzle more 

 obtuse than in a house rat, and the upper lip with a deep 

 vertical furrow. The ears were well developed and nearly 



