NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 133 



been received about 1881, but they have since been lost sight 

 of. There is another in the United States National Museum. 

 Presumably the species may still be present there. St. Kitts 

 is thus the most northern of the Lesser Antilles from which it 

 has been reported. It may be added that the South American 

 Dasyprocta aguti, characterized by its bright ochraceous or 

 rufous rump, is the one introduced on St. Thomas. Miller 

 (1911) reported the identity of this agouti through a specimen 

 received by the National Museum, while in 1917 the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology received one from the same island. 

 In the island of Guadeloupe an agouti has long been known, 

 and in 1914 I named it on the basis of two specimens secured 

 by Dr. G. K. Noble. 



GUADELOUPE AGOUTI 



DASYPROCTA NOBLEI G. M. Allen 



Dasyprocta noblei G. M. Allen, Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol. 5, p. 69, 1914 

 ("Goyave, Guadeloupe Island, West Indies"). 



Two specimens secured in ?914 by Dr. G. K. Noble differ 

 notably from available skins of the neighboring islands in 

 their darker appearance, due to extensive blackening of the 

 head, neck, shoulders, and back, with a suppression of the 

 reddish or ochraceous ticking, which becomes confined to the 

 lower flanks. In a third specimen, later obtained, however, 

 the opposite effect is seen, through the concentration of rusty 

 tips to the hairs of the entire back, perhaps an individual and 

 erythristic condition. If the agouti of Guadeloupe thus proves 

 to be distinct from those on the other islands, it may eventually 

 be better to regard it as merely an insular race of Dasyprocta 

 rubatra. 



As to the status of this animal on Guadeloupe, Dr. Noble 

 reported that at the time of his visit in 1914 it was difficult to 

 secure and was confined to a limited area of uncleared country. 

 The animals make runways and are occasionally obtained by 

 waiting nearby for a shot as one may chance to appear. 



