34 SOLENODON .PARADOXUS. 
vergent. A small projection of the palate forms a minute tooth medially at 
the posterior edge of the palate. The tympanic bone is a nearly complete narrow 
ring, not fused with the mastoid portion of the periotic, but meeting it for a 
. space of about 3 mm. along the ecto-posterior edge. At the antero-lateral termi- 
nation of the tympanic is the large fissura Glaseri as a groove on the posterior 
side of the post-glenoid process. There are two large foramina between the 
ental end of the latter and the pterygoids, the more anterior of which appears 
to correspond to the foramen rotundus and the more posterior, which is slightly 
the larger, to the foramen ovale. The zygomata are incomplete. The round 
flat bone, fastened by ligament to the anterior end of the intermaxillaries at the 
ventral edge of the nasal cavity was noted and described by Brandt in his 
paper of 1833. It serves to support the base of the cartilaginous proboscis and 
was termed by Brandt the os proboscidis. It is lacking in Solenodon cubanus. 
It is nearly circular and about 5 mm. in diameter in our specimen. 
The teeth have been thoroughly described by Brandt, Peters, Dobson, 
Leche, and more recently by J. A. Allen, who has figured the milk dentition. 
The tooth formula is I$ C} P$ M$. In addition to the smaller size of the teeth, 
those of the Cuban species differ conspicuously in the presence of a diastema 
nearly 2 mm. long between the third upper incisor and the canine; in the ab- 
sence of an anterior cingulum cusp on the upper canine; and in the form of the 
second upper premolar, which in the Cuban animal has a prominent ento-posterior 
angle giving a nearly triangular basal section to that tooth, whereas in Solenodon 
paradoxus this angle is not developed and the tooth is nearly oval in outline. 
All the teeth of the lower jaw are in contact in both species. The last lower 
molar of S. paradoxus shows a slightly greater relative development of the pos- 
terior cusp than that of S. cubanus. The remarkable resemblance in the form of 
the skull and teeth of Solenodon to those of Myogale was noted by Brandt. 
The general resemblance in external form as well, suggests that in these respects 
Myogale is a generalized member of the Talpidae that has acquired a further 
development of the molariform teeth from the primitive tritubercular condition 
of the crowns to the more specialized W-shaped type of crown. In these respects 
and in certain points of muscular development, Myogale probably stands in 
much the same relation to the rest of the Talpidae as does Gymnura to the 
others of the Erinaceidae. Both are generalized forms bearing many close 
resemblances to the more primitive Solenodontidae. 
The remarkable deep groove of the large second lower incisor of Solenodon 
seems peculiar to this genus. In Erinaceus there is a shallow groove on the first 
