THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 341 



The exception alluded to is that of the great l)oid snake Epicrates striatiis 

 ■ (Fischer), which, though occnrring in the Bahamas, so far as known, only on 

 New Providence and Andros, is indistinguishable from the Haitian specimens 

 and clearly distinct from E. angulifer (Bibron), which represents the latter in 

 Cuba. This case is apparently so abnormal that the only reasonable explana- 

 tion seems to be the suggestion that this snake has been accidentally introduced 

 by the agency of man at a comparatively recent date. 



Another circumstance is obvious from a glance at the table, viz. : that the 

 two northernmost of the large islands, from which we have collections, Abaco 

 and Eleuthera, have thus far yielded no species not found on the islands nearer 

 Cuba, with one exception. The exception is the blind snake, Typlilops lum- 

 hricaUs (Linne), which has only been recorded from Abaco. From the fact 

 that this species is generally distributed over the entire Antillean region, it 

 appears highly probable that it also occurs in the intervening Bahama Islands, 

 and that its retired habits and the insufficiency of our explorations are respon- 

 sible for this apparent exception. The inference based on the above observa- 

 tion is that the islands which are peripheral from a geographic standpoint also 

 from a distributional standpoint present themselves as peripheral relative to 

 Cuba. 



Kelations to Haiti. 



Six species are identical with forms inhabiting Haiti, several of which 

 have been mentioned above, viz. : Hyla septentrional is Boulenger, Sph(erodac- 

 tylus notatns Baird, Typlilops lumbricalis (Linne), and Epicrates striatiis 

 (Fischer). The first three are of comparatively wider distribution and occur 

 also in Cuba, and the abnormal case of the latter has been discussed above. 

 None of these are thought to possess any special significance. 



In addition to the two other Haitian species occurring in the Bahamas, 

 Mahuya sloanii (Daudin) and Leiocephalus sdireihersii (Gravenhorst), there 

 are seven forms ^^ more or less intimately related to the Haitian species, two of 

 which are about equally related to Cuban forms, and hence of less interest. The 

 seven species to which we then direct our attention are as follows : 



Mahuya sloanii (Daudin) (?). 



Ameiva maynardii Garman. 



Anolis leucophams Garman. 



Anolis moorei Cope. 



'" Eight, if we include the somewhat problematical Anolis from Turks Islands 

 called A. ordinatus by Cope. 



