_Description and discussion._--The size is small to medium for the subfamily Geomyinae. This genus is distinguished principally by the retention of primitive features. In the living species, the skull is generalized, rather than specialized toward either extreme dolichocephaly or platycephaly. The angular process is short, barely exceeding the lateral extensions of the mastoid process of the squamosal. The rostrum is remarkably narrow in relation to its length. The jugal is reduced and displaced ventrally, causing the maxillary arm of the zygomata to articulate with the squamosal arm of the zygomata along the dorsal border of the zygomatic arch (a feature observed also in _Orthogeomys cherriei costaricensis_). The upper incisor, recovered in material from the late Pliocene and middle Pleistocene, is bisulcate as in the genus _Geomys_ and the primitive genus _Pliogeomys_. The enamel plate across the posterior wall of P4 is either complete (late Pliocene to late Pleistocene) or restricted to the lingual half of the tooth (always restricted in living species). The Pliocene specimens of the Rexroad local fauna referred to _Nerterogeomys_ cf. _minor_ by Hibbard (1950:138-139) are exceptional. In these specimens the length and position of the posterior enamel plate is variable; however, all but one specimen had persistant enamel. Evidently, in approximately 43 per cent of the specimens, a complete enamel blade was present (see Paulson, 1961:139), and in the others (except the one without any enamel) the plate was restricted to a small area of the ventral surface, usually on the lingual side of the loph. Hibbard suggested that the decrease in size of the plate, and its restriction to the lingual side, may be a function of age. Hence, most adults would be characterized by the reduced posterior plate on the upper premolar. Although age may be the important factor, intragroup variation cannot be ruled out. It is of interest to note that in all specimens from the Benson (type series of _P. minor_) and Curtis Ranch local faunas, the former of late Pliocene age and the latter of middle Pleistocene age, the enamel plates are complete on the posterior face of the upper premolar. As mentioned before, the specimens from Kansas may actually represent the transitional stages of the early evolution of _Geomys_ in which the posterior plate of P4 is entirely lost. The enamel pattern of p4 is like that in other members of the tribe (excepting the genus _Pliogeomys_). The re-entrant angles of P4 and p4 are widely open (obtuse) in the examples recovered from late Pliocene and middle Pleistocene deposits, representing retention of a trait that is primitive in the Geomyini (see account of phylogeny).