1865.] Sclater on the Mammals of South America. 611 



several purely Neotropical forms, such as Histiotus, Natalus, and 

 Thyrojptera. 



The third great order of Mammals, the Insectivora, are, as far as 

 our present knowledge extends, entirely wanting over the whole of 

 the continental portion of America south of Panama. The Arctopo- 

 litan* genus Sorex descends into Central America as far south as 

 Guatemala, where a single species was collected by Mr. Salvin.f Other 

 Shrews are registered in Dr. Gray's Catalogue of the Mammals in the 

 British Museum as having been obtained at Coban, in the same 

 country. But farther south every trace of the Insectivora disappears, 

 and their place in the economy of nature is probably supplied by the 

 entomophagous Marmosets, and by the numerous small species of 

 Marsupials belonging to the family Didelphyidae, some of which 

 present a remarkable similarity to the true Insectivora.} 



In the West Indian Islands, however, which certainly belong to 

 the Neotropical region, we meet with a single very anomalous and 

 isolated form of Insectivores — the genus Solenodon of Brandt. Two 

 species are now recognized of this extraordinary type, inhabiting 

 different islands. The Solenodon paradoxus, made known to science by 

 Professor Brandt, of St. Petersburg, as long ago as 1833, is from 

 Hayti. The Solenodon cubanus, lately described by Br. W. Peters in 

 an elaborate Memoir in the Transactions of the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences of Berlin, is, as its name indicates, from Cuba. The 

 Solenodon, we may remark, had been previously noted as occurring in 

 Cuba by Senor F. Poey, of Havana, who has done so much towards 

 the investigation of the Fauna of that island, but had not been dis- 

 tinguished from its Haytian representative, until Dr. Peters came to 

 compare the two animals together. 



The great order of flesh-eaters, or Carnivora, which we now arrive 

 at, is spread over the whole earth, with the exception of Australia, 

 where, as has already been shown, its place is supplied by Marsupial 

 forms modified to serve the same purpose. In South America, 

 representatives of four of the families into which the Carnivora are 

 usually divided are met with, namely, Felidae, Canidae, Mustelidaa, 

 and Ursidaa. The Hyenas (Hyaenidae), which are usually recognized 

 as a separate family, and the Civets (Viverridae) are entirely restricted 

 to the Old World, with the exception of the single Mexican genus 

 Bassaris, which is commonly assigned to the latter family. We 

 will commence our survey of the Neotropical Carnivora with the 

 Digitigrade section, which embraces the three families Felidas, Canidae, 

 and Mustelidaa. 



Of the first of these families, all the South American represen- 

 tatives belong to the typical genus Felis. They may, however, be 



* I call those genera " Arctopolitan " which are common to the northern regions 

 of the two hemispheres, such as Ardomys, Bison, Castor, &c. Such forms as are 

 common to the tropical regions (such as the Trogonidse) may in like manner be 

 called " Tropicopolltan." 



t Sorex micrurus, Tomes, ' P. Z. S.,' 1861, p. 279. 



X Especially the genus Hyracodon, Tomes, ' P. Z. S.,' 1863, p. 50. 



