For Zoographers Only 301 



that Lesser Antillean species and Central American species 

 have come through a land connection which had nothing to 

 do with Cuba. This would account, for instance, for the 

 presence of the Hzard Aristelliger in Haiti and Jamaica. 

 The early separation of Jamaica from the mainland and 

 from Haiti would account for the absence of types having 

 such a distribution as Bufo, the common toads, and Am- 

 phisbaena, the blind lizards — which may easily have 

 reached Haiti from the mainland of Central America by 

 way of Cuba. Another connection must have existed be- 

 tween Cuba and the upper peninsula of Haiti after the 

 separation of Jamaica from Haiti, and may we not suppose 

 that the separation took place before the migration of Bufo 

 or Amphisbaena had extended far enough to have reached 

 Jamaica? 



The question is undoubtedly far more complex than the 

 suggestions contained in the previous paragraphs would 

 indicate. Wallace in his Geographical Distribution of 

 Ani?nals (London, 1876, 2, p. 81) says: — 



The West Indian Islands have been long isolated 

 and have varied much in extent. Originally, they 

 probably formed part of Central America, and may 

 have been united with Yucatan and Honduras in one 

 extensive tropical land. But their separation from the 

 continent took place at a remote period, and they have 

 since broken up into numerous islands, which have 

 probably undergone much submergence in recent 

 times. This has led to that poverty of the higher forms 

 of life, combined with the remarkable speciality, 



