24 PHYSICAL FEATURES ETC. 
have the upper parts covered with pines, in contrast to the low ground and recent 
coral-limestone formation of the remainder. 
The total number of species obtained was 214, of which 79 are migrants from North 
America, and of the remaining 135 species, 27 are birds which frequent the sea coast. 
The table of distribution of the 108 non-migrating species shows that the affinities of 
the birds of these islands as a whole are largely on the side of those on the mainland, 
the West Indian element being very slight. Northern Yucatan and the islands 
adjoining are separated from Cuba by a depth of over 1000 fathoms, and the Bay 
Islands from Jamaica by over 500 fathoms. Had there been any recent land con- 
nection, a supposition which the similarity of the birds alone would justify, the main- 
land as well as the West Indies would hardly fail to show such a connection in a much 
more pronounced manner, and we should not find the strong contrast which exists 
between the faunas of Cuba, Jamaica, and the mainland, but a larger number of features 
in common ; this contrast is still more marked in the Lepidoptera Rhopalocera. 
The alternative supposition to account for the West Indian element in these islands 
is that the birds have reached them at no distant date by flight. When we consider 
that the trade wind blows in the direction of Yucatan and this coast for several months 
in the year, it is scarcely a matter of wonder that some West Indian birds stray so far 
west. Cozumel appears to have been separated from the mainland for a considerable 
period, during which time it has received casual immigrants from the West Indies, 
from North America, and from the mainland, some at a distance of time sufficient to 
allow of their modification. There are 159 species of birds, 65 of which are migrants 
and 27 of very wide range. 
My stay in Yucatan was very short, and owing to the state of my health, which 
rendered me unfit for much exertion in a country so little explored, I was able to do 
very little collecting. ‘The specimens acquired, however, were, as before, mostly due 
to the enterprise of Dr. Gaumer, who employed natives to collect, but they were 
necessarily from a limited area. My trip ended very much as it began, for I was 
obliged to return to Progreso, and from thence by steamer to Vera Cruz. 
BRITISH HONDURAS. 
British Honduras, or the colony of Belize, as it is often called, situated on the south- 
eastern shore of the peninsula of Yucatan, is about 160 miles from north to south and 
60 at the widest part. The navigation of the coast is both difficult and dangerous, 
on account of the numerous cays and coral reefs with which it is bordered. In the 
neighbourhood of the town of Belize, and for some distance inland, the ground is low 
and swampy and thickly clothed with mangroves and tropical jungle. Further west 
there is a narrow belt of alluvial soil, beyond which, and parallel to the coast, are 
tracts of arid sandy land called ‘pine ridges,’ from the pine trees with which they 
