8 Unizcrsity of Michigan 



APPENDIX 



(Translation) 



'' 'Since I was lirst charged by Dr. C. T. Ramsden to collect exam- 

 ples of all ages of the various species of "salamanquitas"' to compkte 

 biological collections of each form. I have captured individuals of all 

 the types known in this province [Habana], but was never able to 

 find young examples of vS*. cinereus. Desirous of solving this enigma, 

 I put into a cage about twelve examples of 5*. elegans taken from the 

 same places where S. cinereus was common and in fact living with 

 that species. The first difficulty was to provide food for my captives, 

 but this was done by placing ripe fruit in the cage and breeding fruit 

 flies thereon (Drosophila), upon which the little lizards fed freely. 

 Thus I kept my "Salamanquitas de los santos 6 de la Virgen." So 

 called, beyond doubt, because they frequent sacred pictures which, 

 being generally lit with little candles or lamps, attract insects and 

 hence the lizards. The lizards are often to be found abundantly 

 behind these pictures, which are also often the only ones in the poorer 

 houses. The lizards thus confined soon began to lose the transverse 

 bars of "elegans" and to assume the ashy color of "cinereus," but nat- 

 urally they never reached the size which is attained to by cinereus in 

 a wild state. I then put up hiding places and' provided food in appro- 

 priate places inside my house, and released specimens of elegans 

 there, which grew with rapidity.' 



"Thus, having observed all the transitions, the full credit for this 

 discovery is due to the entirely modest Sefior Jose Cabrera, as the 

 letter which I have quoted above goes to show, and as the following 

 taken from a subsequent communication dated Dec. 14, 192 1, sub- 

 stantiates : 



■' 'Esteemed Master : I add further notes which you may revise 

 so that my views may be clearly placed before the Poey Natural His- 

 tory Society. First you ,ask me whence the eggs which I used and 

 whether I was sure that they were really those of cinereus. Now I 

 may only say, when you have the opportunity catch some specimens 

 of Spli. cinereus in the summer, and it is almost sure that from some 

 one of them you will get an egg of from 7 to 9 mm. in length and 

 from it there will appear a young which has transverse bands and is 

 not ashy grey. Now also when one of these Saints pictures is 

 removed from the walls of an old house one often finds groups or 

 colonies of large and small individuals having the two types of col- 

 oration and living together. One never finds a banded individual 

 large enough to contain eggs of 8 to 9 mm.' " 



"Thus, of the more than 200 individuals propagated by Cabrera 



