NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 129 



begins (such as that of Amblyrhiza on Anguilla and its relatives 

 on Puerto Rico) . It is difficult to say whether this is a natural 

 distribution, owing to the species having succeeded in crossing 

 from island to island northward, or whether it is due to human 

 agency whereby they were introduced and successfully colon- 

 ized. Their flesh is considered excellent food, and they are not 

 difficult to keep in captivity; hence it is reasonable to believe 

 that the aborigines may have been responsible for their intro- 

 duction from the continent or Trinidad to the various islands 

 to the northward. Du Tertre, writing in 1654, says that 

 among the French islands implying St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, 

 and Martinique they were well known at that time and were 

 much hunted for their flesh, dogs being trained to run them. 

 When pursued, they seek shelter in a hollow log or tree whence 

 the hunters smoke them out. The female was said to bring 

 forth two young at a time, in a nest made on the ground under a 

 bush. In early days, too, it was said that their sharp incisor 

 teeth were used as blades, probably set in some kind of a 

 handle, by the Caribs for cutting their skin all over their 

 bodies to draw blood in their religious ceremonies. A later 

 French missionary, Labat, writing in 1742, said that he be- 

 lieved it was found on all the islands, although he acknowledged 

 that he did not know of its presence on Martinique. It was 

 then common on Dominica, Guadeloupe, and St. Kitts. Its 

 absence, even at the present day, on Martinique is interesting 

 and requires explanation. Possibly the introduction of so 

 poisonous a snake as the bushmaster in early times may have 

 exterminated it there if it previously had been present. Per- 

 haps, too, volcanic eruptions, with their discharge of poison 

 gas, may have had an occasional disastrous effect in the past, 

 as when Mount Pelee went into action a generation ago. 

 Agoutis are more or less diurnal in habit, feeding on vegetable 

 matter, and are especially fond of certain forest fruits, so that 

 hunters sometimes resort to the expedient of sitting in such a 

 tree and attracting the agoutis by throwing a stone from time 

 to time through the leafy branches. The agoutis evidently 

 mistaking the noise of the stone crashing through the leaves 

 to the ground for the fall of one of the fruits may sometimes be 

 seen cautiously coming from the thicket where they have hid- 

 den, to seek the fruit, and thus expose themselves to a shot. 

 In external appearance this agouti does not differ essentially 



