ALLEN: NEW FOSSIL MAMMALS FROM CUBA. 9 



tiis of Little Swan Island, and G. ingrahami of Plana Keys, Bahamas, 

 are smaller, and much more resemble each other in their gray type 

 of coloring than they do the large dark brown animal of Jamaica. 

 As Chapman pointed out, these may indicate two species-groups. 

 The recent discovery in Jamaica of fossil jaws indistinguishable from 

 those of G. thoracatus (Miller, 1916) may further indicate that both 

 species-groups formerly were represented in that island. An addi- 

 tional character of value is the color of the incisors. These are deep 

 yellow in adults of all species of Capromys. In Gcocapromys brownii 

 and ingrahami they are very pale yellow, almost whitish; while in 

 G. thoracatus and the new fossil species described below from Cuba, 

 the incisors are ivory-white. The Cuban species may be known as 



Geocapromys cubanus, sp. nov. 

 Plate, fig. 7-9. 



Type. — Portion of the right lower ramus of an immature animal, 

 showing the incisor and three anterior cheek-teeth in place, M. C. Z. 

 -9602. From the Sierra of Hato-Nuevo, Province of Matanzas, Cuba. 

 Carlos de la Torre. 



Description. — A species slightly smaller than G. ingrahami, but \\ath 

 relatively broader molars, when adult. The reentrants are relatively 

 deeper, narrower, and more nearly parallel-sided, giving the pattern 

 an appearance of greater compression in the direction of the jaw's 

 axis. The anteriormost inner reentrant of pnii is relatively deeper 

 than in any of the existing species, and reaches to the mid-line of the 

 tooth (Plate, fig. 8). The incisors are slender and white. The 

 palate (M. C. Z. 9603) shows the strongly contracted tooth rows 

 and narrow median bony ridge characteristic of the genus. The 

 broken condition of the palates discloses the fact that the alveoli of the 

 upper molar rows, though 2 mm. apart at the point where the teeth 

 emerge, are nearly in contact at the upper level of their roots, as if 

 foreshadowing the condition in Synodontomys in which the tooth rows 

 are practically in contact at the level of the palate. 



The enamel pattern of adult specimens more nearly resembles that 

 of G. brownii of Jamaica than it does either of the other living species. 

 Young individuals have a more open pattern showing less compres- 

 sion and depth of the enamel folds, but intermediate conditions link 

 these extremes in the series at hand. The palate ends at about the 



