Sept 9, 1875J 



NATURE 



409 



of the public museum of that city,' has lately devoted himself to 

 the study of the extinct Mammal- fauna, and specially to that of the 

 Glyptodont Armadillos, of which he has lately completed a splen- 

 didly illustrated monograph. He has likewise been the chief 

 adviser of the Government in their plans for recognising the 

 University of Cordova, which will ultimately no doubt do much 

 for the cause of natural science in the Argentine Republic, Mr. 

 W. H. Hudson, of Buenos Ayres, has long studied the birds 

 and other animals of that country, and deserves honourable men- 

 tion in a country where so few of the native-born citizens pursue 

 science. His bird-collections have been worked out by Mr. 

 Salvin and myself, and Mr. Hudson has likewise published 

 a series of interesting notices on the habits of the species. 



The "Zoology of the Voyage of the Bea^/e" contains much 

 information concerning the animals of La Plata, Patagonia, 

 and Chili. The "Mammals" by Waterhoase, the " Birds" by 

 Gould and G. R. Gray, the "Fishes" by Jenyns, and the 

 " Reptiles " by Bell, illustrated with notes and observations of 

 Mr. Darwin, will ever remain among the leading authorities on 

 the animals of this part of America. On the Rio Negro of 

 Patagonia, where Mr. Darwin made considerable collections, 

 we have a more recent authority in Mr. W. H. Hudson, whose 

 series of birds from this district was examined by myself in 

 1872. 



Dr. R. O. Cunningham has recently followed on the footsteps 

 of Mr. Darwin in Patagonia, and besides his journal of travels 

 has published notes 'on the animals met with, in the Linnean 

 Society's Transactions. Mr. Salvin and I have given an 

 account of his ornithological collections in several papers in 

 the "Ibis." 



As regards the Falkland Islands, two excellent collectors and 

 observers have of late years been stationed there, and have 

 provided the means of our becoming well acquainted with the 

 native birds. Capt. Packe's collections have been examined by 

 Mr. Gould and myself, and CapL Abbott's by myself in a 

 paper to which he has added many valuable notes. 



Lastly, as regards Chili, we have Gay's somewhat pretentious 

 "Fauna Chilena," forming the zoological portion of his 

 " Historia Fisica y Politica de Chile." The volume on the 

 Mammals and Birds was compiled at Paris by Desmurs, and 

 that on the Reptiles and Fishes by Guichenot, but they are not 

 very reliable. The naturalists of the National Museum of 

 Santiago, Philippi and Landbeck, have of late years published 

 in Wiegman's " Archiv" many memoirs on the zoology of the 

 Chilian Republic, of which I have given a list in a paper on the 

 Birds of Chili in the Zoological Society's " Proceedings " for 

 1867. More recently Messrs. Philippi and Landbeck have 

 published a catalogue of Chilian birds in the " Anales de la 

 Universidad de Chile." But Mr. E. C. Reed, F.Z.S., who 

 is likewise attached to jthe museum of Santiago, writes me 

 word that he is now engaged in preparing for publication a com- 

 plete revision of the Vertebrates of the Republic, which will no 

 doubt give us still better information on this subject. 

 6. Galapagos. 



Until recently our knowledge of the very singular fauna of 

 the Galapagos was mainy based upon Mr. Darwin's researches, 

 as published in the "Zoology of the Beagle" above referred to. 

 Recently, however, Mr. Salvin and I have described some new 

 species of birds from these islands from Dr. Habel's collection, 

 and Prof. Sundevall has published an account of the birds 

 collected there during the voyage of the Swedish frigate 

 Eugenic in 1852. Mr. Salvin has likewise prepared and 

 read before the Zoological Society a complete memoir on the 

 Ornithology of the Galapagoan Archipelago, which will shortly 

 be printed in the Society's "Transactions." Much interest has 

 likewise been recently manifested concerning the gigantic Tor- 

 toises of the Galapagos, which, Dr. Giinther has reason to believe, 

 belong to several species each restricted to a separate island.* 

 Indeed, I am much pleased to hear that the Lords of the Admi- 

 ralty, incited by Dr. Giinther's requests, have'despatched H.^LS, 

 Tenedos for the Pacific squadron at Panama to the Galapa- 

 gos, for the express purpose of capturing and bringing to England 

 specimens of the tortoises of each of the islands. We may, there- 

 fore, hope to be shortly more accurately informed upon this 

 most interesting subject. 



Va. The A.ntillean Sub-region. 

 The study of the fauna of the West India Islands present* 

 problems to us of the greatest interest : first, on account of the 



* See Natlre, vol. xii. p 238 (1875). 



relics of an ancient and primitive fauna which are found there, 

 as indicated by the presence of such types as Solenodon, Dulus, 

 and Starnotnas ; and, secondly, from the many instances of repre- 

 sentative species replacing each other in the different islands. 

 Much, it is true, has been done towards the working out of 

 Antillean Faunas of late years, but much more remains to be 

 done ; and it is indeed scandalous that there should be many 

 islands under the British rule, of the zoology of which we are 

 altogether unacquainted. The greater aodvity of our botanical 

 fellow-labourers has supplied us with a handy volume of the 

 Botany of these islands ; * and it is by no means creditable to the 

 zoologists to remain so far behind in this as in other cases already 

 alluded to. Within the compass of the present address it would 

 not be possible for me to enumerate all our authorities upon An- 

 tillean zoology, but I will mention some of the principsd works 

 of reference under the following heads : — 



1. The Bahamas. 3. Jamaica. 5. Porto Rico. 



2. Cuba. 4. Haiti. 6. The Lesser Antilles. 



I. The Bahamas. 



The late Dr. Bryant has published in the Boston Journal of 

 Natural History several articles upon the birds of the Bahamas, 

 where he passed more than one winter. These islands, how- 

 ever, merit much more minute investigation than has as yet 

 been bestowed upon them. 



2. Cuba. 



Ramon de la Sagra's " Historia Fisica y Politica de Cuba " 

 and Lenbeye's "Aves de la Isla de Cuba," were up to a 

 recent period our chief authorities upon Cuban zoology. But 

 Cuba has long had the advantage of the residence withm it of 

 an excellent naturalist— Don Juan Gundlach — who has laboured 

 hard towards the more complete investigation of its remarkable 

 zoology. \Ve are indebted to him for collecting the specimens 

 upon which Dr. Cabanis based his revision of Cuban ornithology, 

 published in Wiegmann's "Archiv," as also for a tabular 

 list of Cuban birds, published in the same journal for 1861, 

 and for several supplements thereto, for the more recent reviews 

 of the mammals and birds of the island, published in the first 

 volume of Poey's " Repertorio," and for many other contributions 

 to the natural history of Cuba. This last-named work, as 

 also the previous " Memorias sobre la historia natural de la 

 Isla de Cuba" of the same author, contains a number of 

 valuable contributions to our knowledge of the rich fauna of this 

 island, and should be carefully studied by those who are anxious 

 to become acquainted with the peculiarities of the Cuban fauna. 



3. Jamaica. 



Mr. Gosse's meritorious work on the Birds of Jamaica, and 

 his "Naturalists' Rambles," are still the main source of our 

 information on the fine island of Jamaica, and very little has 

 been done since his time. A young English naturalist, Mr. W. 

 Osburn, made some good collections in Jamaica in i860, of 

 which the Mammals were worked out by Mr. Tomes and 

 the Birds by myself. Mr. \V. T. March has also more 

 recently sent good scries of the birds of the island to America, 

 and Prof. Baird has edited his excellent notes on them. I must 

 not lose the opportunity of calling special attention to the 

 Seals of the Antilles {Monachus tropicalis and Cystophora antilla- 

 rum of Gray), of which, so lar as 1 know, the only specimens 

 existing are the imperfect remains in the British Museum brought 

 home by Mr. Gosse. More knowledge about these animals (if 

 there be really two of them) would be very desirable. 

 4. Haiti. 



Of this large island very little more is known as regards its 

 zoology than was the case in the days of Buffon and Vieillot. 

 Of its birds alone we have a recent account in a paper which I 

 wrote upon M. Salle's collection, and in a more recent memoir 

 drawn up by the late Dr. Bryant, and published in the " Pro- 

 ceedings" of the Boston Society of Natural History for 1863. 

 5. Porto Rico. 



Nearly the same story holds good of this Spanish island, oi 

 which our only recent news relates to the birds, and consists of 

 two papers — one by Mr. E. C. Taylor in the "Ibis," and the 

 other by the late Dr. Bryant, in the journal above mentioned. 

 6. The Lesser Antilles. 



As I remarked above, every one of the numerous islands, from 

 Porto Rico down to Trinidad, requires thorough examination. 

 * Griesbach's " Flora of the West Indies." 



