Prof. R.-L. Trouessart on Xeotctr;icu3 sinensis. o89 



XLir. — Ncotetractis siikmisLs, a ntm Insectivore of the Fmnih/ 

 Eiiiuiceitkv}. By E.-L. Tu(.)Ui:ss.vi:t, C.M.Z.iS., Professor 

 at the iluseam National d'llistoire Niitiirelle de Paris. 



NiiOTETRACUS, gen. nov. 



Similar in external form to Podoji/mnui'd* or Mucro- 

 sreliiieSf but witli tlio dentition of Erinaceus. The two-tanged 

 eanine in either jaw not higher than tlie small ineisors 

 whieh precede it and the small premolars which follow it. 

 Palate incompletely ossitied like that of Kriaaceas. Pelage 

 sutf, not spiny ; tail well developed. 



Dental tormula : — 



I. S C. g, P«i. S ^I- S = totaUO. 



The first upper incisor is liigh, conical, having the shape 

 usual in the family; the second, widely separated from the 

 preceding, is nearly as broad but not .so high; the third is very 

 small ; the double-rooted canine, with triangular crown, is 

 a little longer but not higher than the incisor which precedes 

 it ; the first two premolars, subci^ual, are a little smaller than 

 the canine, but have the same shape, t'le anterior and posterior 

 tubercles being atrophied ; the third premolar very large, 

 with four tubercles, of which the anterior external one is well 

 developed and projecting. The molars diminish in height 

 from the first to the third : the first, with quadrangular 

 crown, has five tubercles, as usual in the family, the fit'th 

 median, and has in addition a spur simulating a small 

 posterior tubercle closely adjoining the posterior external 

 tubercle ; the second molar, a little smaller, resembles the 

 preceding ; the third, with triangular crown, has only three 

 tubercles, two in front, one behind. 



In the lower jaw, the first incisor is very large, proclivou^, 

 spatulate, and with spoon-shaped hollows on its supero-internal 

 face ; the second and third are very small, the crowns lower 

 in front (as in Erinaceus) ; the canine is small and similar to 

 the incisors which precede it ; the first two premolars are 

 small, with the anterior and posterior tubercles atrophietl ; 

 the third is very large, trituberculate, the median tubercle 

 very large and prominent. The molars diminish in height 

 from the first to the third : the first has five tubercles dis- 

 {lorfe I 1, 2, and 2, the two posterior pairs united by a trans- 



• Mearus, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxviii. 190.5,]). 4.'J7 ; Mnrcu.s Wiird 

 Lyon, Jr., luc. cif. xx.\vi. 1909, pp. 449-450, pi. ^(5. I wfts in error in 

 uniting Jli/loini/s and (Jymnuru in the ' Catalogus Mammaliiun ' — the two 

 are (juite distinct. 



Ann. d; Maj. X. Hist, Ser. 8. Vol. iv. 27 



