288 
ORIGIN OF LIFE IN AMERICA 
Dr. Stejneger,* a few Antillean genera, such as Ameiva, 
Amphisbaena, Typhlops and Alsophis, possess a southern rela¬ 
tionship. The species of burrowing snake, Typhlops lumbri- 
calis, is even confined to the West Indies and British Guiana 
without entering Central America. Dr. Stejneger does not 
actually speak of a former land connection of Antillea with 
South America, but I explained above that some geologists 
advocate an ancient union of the two continents by way of 
the Lesser Antilles. If such a connection existed, I think 
it must have been in the pre-Cretaceous times. Most zoo¬ 
logists would deride the idea of any terrestrial species 
having been transmitted to us unchanged from pre-Cretaceous 
times to the present day. We have no geological evidence of 
such a fact, but Dr. Sarasin expresses the opinion that the 
genus Typhlops, at any rate, is older than the Cretaceous 
Period. We gather from Dr. Stejneger’s researches that the 
great majority of the Portorican species are western in their 
affinities, and that Portorico and the more easterly Virgin 
islands certainly must have been connected with one another 
in comparatively recent geological times. 
As regards Jamaica, Mr. Barbour gives us some interesting 
details as to its reptiles and amphibians. He emphasises the 
fact, which I have already alluded to in speaking of the 
mammals (p. 285), that the distinctive characters of this 
island are not shared by the rest of the Antilles. Jamaica is 
related faunistioally to Central America and Haiti, while the 
relationship with Cuba is much more remote. Mr. Barbour 
thinks that the early separation of Jamaica from the main¬ 
land and from Haiti would account for the absence of types 
having such a distribution as Bufo and Amphisbaena, which 
may have reached Haiti from Central America by way of 
Cuba. If fortuitous dispersal has played practically no part in 
providing the Antilles with a fauna, as Mr. Barbourf is in¬ 
clined to think, the Bahamas certainly must have belonged to 
Antillea and cannot have been submerged since. Sixteen 
species of reptiles and amphibians are described by Mr. 
Barbour^ as occurring in the Bahaman arcdiipelago. Several 
* Stejneger, L., “ Herpetology of Porto Rico,” pp. 501—563. 
t Barbour, Thomas, “ Herpetology of Jamaica.” pp. 277—285. 
J Barbour, Thomas, “ Batrachia and Beptilia of Bahamas.” 
