ALLEN: MAMMALS OF THE WEST INDIES. 177 



son of specimens would show whether it were the same as that of 

 Florida or Yucatan, or if it be really an insular race. Of the remainder 

 we may distinguish, for convenience, two groups: those belonging 

 to genera now known from the Antilles alone, and those belonging 

 to genera that are also represented on the mainland of America. 

 Those of the former group fall at once into two divisions, geographi- 

 cally. The first contains Capromys, Plagiodontia, and Solenodon 

 of the Greater Antilles; the second, Ainblyrhiza and Megalomys of 

 the Lesser Antilles. A similar division may be made of the group of 

 mammals that are insular representatives of known continental forms. 

 Thus, in the Greater Antilles are: Megalonyx rodcns, a fossil ground 

 sloth known from Cuba only, and Oryzomys antillarum, of Jamaica, 

 an island representative of 0. couesi, of the neighboring Honduras 

 peninsula. In the Lesser Antilles, from Tobago northward to and 

 including St. Thomas, are: Didclphys marsupialis insularis and 

 Marmosa cha/pmani, opossums both closely related to species of 

 northeastern South America, and a nine-banded armadillo (Dasy- 

 pus) ; all of which probably have not by natural means spread farther 

 north than Grenada. The agouti (Dasyprocta), at least until very 

 recently, occurred on practically all of the Lesser Antilles to St. 

 Thomas. The possibility of human interference in carrying this 

 much sought animal from island to island should, however, be kept 

 in mind. The occurrence of Loncheres and Oryzomys in Martinique 

 and St. Vincent respectively is of much interest. The former has 

 been taken only once, but is known to the negroes of Martinique, 

 so that it is possibly native. The latter, as in case of the opossums 

 and the armadillo of the more southern islands, is closely related to a 

 species of the neighboring mainland, and is quite different from that 

 of Central America, whence evidently the Jamaican species was 

 derived. There is every probability that, before the coming of the 

 white man, Oryzomys was of more general distribution in the Antilles; 

 but the introduction of the house and roof rats (Epimys) brought in 

 a competitor against which the rice rat was unable to stand. Even 

 yet, however, a careful search in the more inaccessible parts of some 

 of the larger islands might discover, a few survivors. 



It is doubtful what significance may be attached to the recent 

 discovery of a small race of raccoon in New Providence (Bahamas) 

 and in Guadeloupe (Windward Islands). A third raccoon is known 

 from Barbados, but its identity is still uncertain. Some have sup- 

 posed that the silent dogs ("perros mudos") mentioned by the early 

 Spanish explorers as kept by the natives of Haiti were really these 



