FERNANDO DE NORONHA 
385 
Amphisbaena ridleyi, for example, is peculiar to the island, 
its nearest relation living in the West Indies. The skink 
(Mabuia punctata) occurs on the island as well as in British 
Guiana. The snail Bulimulus ridleyi, as I have already 
pointed out (p. 176), is the only living representative of the 
Oligocene group of species which once inhabited Florida. 
There are, moreover, two species of Opeas identical with West 
Indian forms, while a Pupa seems closely allied to a Cuban 
species. The single fresh-water species (Planorbis noron- 
hensis) is endemic. The noteworthy relationship with the 
Antilles is also noticeable among the plants as well as among 
the marine forms living on the shores of the island. As might 
be expected, this is attributed by Mr. Ridley * to the action 
of sea-currents. No other theory of the origin of the fauna 
and flora of Fernando de Noronha than that of accidental 
dispersal by wind or waves ever occurred to him. Yet both 
Mabuia and Amphisbaena are genera which, as I have shown, 
can be cited with some justification as evidences of the exist¬ 
ence of a former land connection between South America and 
West Africa. And these, with a gecko of enormously wide 
range, constitute the only members of the reptilian fauna. 
Why should these ancient reptiles inhabit Fernando de 
Noronha and not any of the more modern groups ? This 
and other pertinent criticisms of Mr. Ridley’s theory have 
also been urged by Dr. von Ihering,f who shows, especially 
from a botanical point of view, that accidental dispersal has 
not played a very important part in the origin of the island 
flora. On the contrary, he maintains that it is part of the 
ancient Archlielenis which once united South America and 
Africa. 
The small island of Trinidad, not to be confounded with the 
island of the same name in the West Indies, lies much further 
south, and about seven hundred miles east of the coast of 
Brazil. It is now uninhabited, though for a time it contained 
a small colony of settlers who left a few goats and pigs on the 
island, which continued the destruction of the native fauna 
and flora commenced by their late masters. The ground 
* Ridley, IT. N., “ Zoology of Fernando Noronha,” pp. 473—502. 
t Ikering, H. von, “Fernando de Noronha,” p. 0. 
c c 
L.A. 
