FAUNAL RELATIONSHIPS. 81 



may occiir elsewhere in the region. Its relationships are, of course, Mediter- 

 ranean. 



Of the snakes .\i-rhyton ■nith three species is confined to Cuba and proba- 

 bly represents some Leptocalamus-like ancestor, modified through isolation. 

 The Alsophis and Leimadophis are really West Indian, while the Boas, one 

 Epicrates, and no less than four Tropidophes are typically Greater Antillean. 

 The Typhlops is insignificant, being very wide-ranging and a type likely to be 

 transported fortuitously. The fresh-water tortoise is found upon the four 

 greater islands; Crocodylus acutus, although wanting in Porto Rico occurs on 

 the other three. Crocodylus rhombifer is peculiar to Cuba and has but one near 

 ally in C. moreletii of Central America; if this species ever proves to be any- 

 thing more than rhombifer with a wrong locaUty label. 



The question of whether Cuba is a true continental island and whether 

 or not it with the other West Indies has ever been joined together to form a 

 far greater land mass than they do now, has been discussed elsewhere at length 

 (see footnote p. 79). The discovery of fossil mammals, edentates, rodents, 

 and an insectivore, unearthed in Cuba through Carlos de la Torre, Bamum 

 Brown and the exploring parties from the M. C. Z., and the still more sm-prising 

 collections made in Porto Rico by Franz Boas and Anthony and recently re- 

 ported upon by J. A. Allen and Anthony, make it increasingly evident that 

 this interpretation of the evidence of the amphibians and reptiles is the correct 

 one. The significance of these fossil troves cannot be exaggerated and how 

 much exploration remains to be done! A few years ago from densely populated 

 and widely cultivated Porto Rico not a fossil mammal was known and some of 

 the most learned palaeontologists did not postulate their presence there. Now 

 several genera of rodents, an insectivore, and a sloth have been found and 

 beyond doubt the end is not yet. Haiti is palaeontologically absolutely a terra 

 incognita, or as perhaps we might better say in a paper upon Cuba, una tierra 

 desconocida. If suitable deposits are found, and if fortime favors, there is no 

 great doubt but that a considerable mammaUan fauna will be uncovered in the 

 futm-e. 



Perhaps the most interestmg point which a study of the reptiles and amphi- 

 bians brings out is that, although Cuba supports mainland types not foimd upon 

 other islands, it has nevertheless in spite of the swift currents which sweep its 

 shores and its proximity to Yucatan and Florida a typically West Indian favma; 

 those very forms being present in their reasonable proportion or representation, 

 as so very many of them occur upon every island from Cuba to Grenada. It is 



