No. 6. — Mammals of the West Indies. 

 By Glover M. Allen. 



Introduction. 



During August and September of 1910 the writer made a small 

 collection of mammals in the island of Grenada. The study of these 

 and of other West Indian specimens in the collection of the Museum, 

 suggested the preparation of a list of mammals known to occur in 

 the West Indies, with a summary of their recorded distribution and 

 its zoogeographical bearing. Most of the conclusions reached are not 

 new, but are of value in connection with similar studies of other 

 groups of animals. The evident gaps in our knowledge of the dis- 

 tribution of many species is made evident by the summary table 

 given. Three new island races are described. No account is taken 

 in this paper of the aquatic mammals nor of domestic animals that 

 have become more or less feral in some of the islands. The bibli- 

 ography includes most of the important papers dealing with the 

 mammals of the West Indies. 



It is a pleasure to extend thanks to His Honor Robert S. Johnstone, 

 now Chief Justice at Grenada, to whom I am indebted for unfailing 

 hospitality and effective assistance while collecting in that island, 

 as well as previously during a visit to the Bahamas. 



Zoogeographical Relations. 



Much has been written on the derivation of the West Indian land 

 fauna, especially as to that of its molluscs, amphibians, reptiles, and 

 birds. Hitherto but little attempt has been made to examine care- 

 fully the distribution of its mammals with a view to discovering evi- 

 dence in confirmation or disproof of current theories regarding former 

 land bridges, or other means of immigration. No doubt this is mainly 

 due to the fact that there are comparatively few terrestrial species of 

 mammals in the Antillean region; and the distribution of these is,- 

 in the main, so limited, or so imperfectly known, as to be of slight aid. 

 It has been customary to ignore, more or less completely, the facts 

 offered by the geographical distribution of bats in island faunas on the 

 ground that they are capable of flying widely oversea, and hence 



