ALLEN: MAMMALS OF THE WEST INDIES. 211 



interest as tending to confirm the theory of a former land connection 

 from the peninsula of Honduras to Jamaica. 



Capromys (Geocapromys) brownii Fischer. 



Capromys brownii Fischer, Synopsis Mamm., Addenda, 1830, p. 

 389 ( = 589). 



This dark-colored short-tailed Capromys is probably still to be 

 found in the wooded parts of Jamaica. In addition to a mounted 

 specimen, the Museum has a skin and skull collected in Jamaica in 

 July, 1905, by Capt. Wirt Robinson. 



Capromys (Geocapromys) ingrahami Allen. 



Capromys ingrahami Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1891, 3, 

 p. 329, fig. 1-10. 



The discovery of this animal on one of the Plana Keys, situated 

 between Acklin's and Maraguana Islands, of the Bahama group, was 

 made only twenty years since. As noted by Allen (1891) it was 

 common and easily obtained on this small islet of only four or five 

 miles in length and about half a mile wide. No trace of Capromys 

 was found on the neighboring islands; and there is no evidence that 

 it has been on them within historic times. Columbus, in his journal, 

 distinctly states that no wild quadrupeds were met with in the Bahama 

 Islands among which he first landed (viz., Watling's Island, Rum Cay, 

 Long Island, and Exuma). Not until he reached Cuba did Columbus 

 find the hutia. Catesby's reference to the Bahama Coney in his 

 Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, (1743) 

 throws no light on the subject. His figure seems to represent the 

 common C. pilorides of Cuba. Of early references to these mammals, 

 those of Oviedo have been very often quoted, but always with much 

 uncertainty as to what animals were really meant. A valuable 

 transcription, with commentary, has been given by MacLeay (1829), 

 who was familiar with Capromys in Cuba. Gonzalo Hernandes de 

 Oviedo y Valdes published in 1535 his " Historia general de las Indias," 

 and a second edition appeared in 1547. Oviedo seems to have lived 

 in the present island of San Domingo and Haiti, and his notes on 

 mammals appertain to that island. He admits, however, that he had 

 his information concerning them at second hand. He mentions the 

 following four native species, as well as a kind of dog. The Hutia 



