ALLIGATORS AND CROCODILES 181 



spread more widely in America. Although the American 

 crocodile is fond of salt marshes, and some of the eastern 

 crocodiles actually frequent the sea coast, I cannot for a 

 moment believe in the possibility of a crocodile crossing an 

 ocean such as the Atlantic. Only a land connection between 

 America and the Old World in early Tertiary times can 

 explain its present geographical distribution. 



Of West Indian mammals none have so far been observed in 

 Florida, unless we include the raccoons among them. It is a 

 most remarkable fact that a raccoon (Procyon maynardi) 

 inhabits New Providence, one of the Bahama islands. At 

 the first impulse we might think of a chance introduction by 

 floating trees from the mainland of Florida. But Florida lies 

 one hundred and seventy miles west of New Providence, and is 

 separated from it by a swift current flowing northward. 

 Raccoons occur nowhere else in the West Indian islands, 

 and the New Providence species differs from that of the main- 

 land. In the last chapter (p. 151) I contended that the 

 whole family Procyonidae was certainly of American origin, 

 and I thought the genus Procyon might have arisen in Plio- 

 cene times. Possibly it is much older, though we possess no 

 palaeontological evidence in support of such a supposition. If 

 the Bahama islands had still been joined to Florida when the 

 latter had already become a peninsula of North America, we 

 should expect a good many of the smaller mammals to have 

 crossed over to the Bahamas, which they have not done. So 

 far, the occurrence of this species of raccoon in the Bahamas 

 is a complete puzzle to me. 



Before concluding this brief survey of the south-eastern 

 fauna I should like to dispel the impression I may have given 

 that the tropical element forms any great share in the verte- 

 brate fauna of Florida. On the contrary, the majority of the 

 genera and species undoubtedly poured into the peninsula 

 from the north and north-west, and they appear to be gradu- 

 ally displacing the southern element. At any rate,. I look upon 

 the latter as a relict of the Tertiary Era. 



There are many species of mammals peculiar to Florida, 

 but not so many as we might expect from the favourable 

 climatic conditions of the country. On the whole, the 

 mammalian fauna of the peninsula bears the impress of a 



