i893. CLASSIFICATION OF ISLANDS. 191 



oceanic island that had never formed part of a continental area. 

 Accordingly, though Barbados is exceedingly fertile, and though the 

 island when first discovered was clothed with forest and underwood, 

 its native terrestrial fauna is a very small one. 



There are only two mammals in Barbados which have been 

 supposed to be indigenous, a monkey and a racoon-like animal, but 

 I am informed by Col. Fielden that the monkey proves to be the 

 Green Monkey of Western Africa, Cercopithcciis callitrichus, and the 

 "racoon" is a South American animal {Procyon cancrivonis). The 

 monkey was doubtless brought over in slave-ships, and as it is known 

 that the Caribbean Indians frequented the island before it was 

 colonised by Europeans, and as the early settlers had intercourse 

 with the colonists of Guiana, it is quite possible that the Procyon 

 was introduced by man. 



There are no indigenous Amphibia, but there are two Snakes 

 and four species of Lizards. One of the snakes is a species peculiar 

 to Barbados, the other may have been introduced by human agency 

 from some of the other islands. Of the lizards, three are South 

 American species, and the fourth is found in all the Lesser Antilles, 

 though it is not yet known from South America. The manner in 

 which reptiles may be landed on an island like Barbados is illustrated 

 by the case recorded by Col. H. W. Fielden in the " Zoologist" of 

 1888, p. 236 ; this was the landing of an alligator on the shore from 

 a floating tree-trunk, actually witnessed in 1886; it had doubtless 

 been transported from one of the great South American rivers, but 

 it was promptly dispatched by those who witnessed its arrival. 



In a paper on the birds of Barbados, Col. Fielden remarks 

 that, so far as he can judge, "the mammals, reptiles, and land 

 molluscs owe their introduction either to ocean-currents, accidental 

 occurrences, or to the direct agency of man, and a review of its avi- 

 fauna does not point to a different conclusion." He also speaks of 

 Barbados as a "truly oceanic island in the sense of its never having 

 formed part of a continent since the introduction of its present 

 meagre fauna," nor " since it emerged as a coral-reef from the 

 ocean." This is perfectly true, but yet it does not come under 

 Wallace's definition of an oceanic island for the reason already 

 stated. 



The difficulty of drawing hard and fast lines between oceanic 1 

 and continental islands is also illustrated by the structure and fauna 

 of the Seychelles Archipelago, in the Indian Ocean. These islands 

 are surrounded by water of more than 1,000 fathoms, and are 

 850 miles distant from the coast of Africa. They might, therefore, 

 be expected to exhibit all the features of oceanic islands ; the facts, 

 however, are as follow : The larger islands consist entirely of granite, 

 and granite is a deep-seated rock which can only be exposed by the 

 prolonged and repeated processes of erosion which take place on 

 large areas of land. Dr. Wallace admits them to be remnants of 



