286 
that our work is very often scientific re- 
search work of the highest character, and 
that although we are very often told that 
because of its practical nature it does not 
belong to pure science, yet we should insist 
that, whether it be pure science or not, 
it is scientific work, and because of our 
previous training is likely to be of per- 
manent value. 
I desire, finally, to offer an apology for the 
shortcomings probably altogether too visi- 
ble in this address, and to express the hope 
that Section D of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, because 
of the large and important field which it 
represents, will start in on a new era of 
prosperity. 
Srorm Butt. 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 
FAUNA AND FLORA OF PUERTO RICO. 
Iy the past the island of Puerto Rico was 
densely populated. Before Columbus dis- 
covered America and Ponce made his first 
European settlement on the island there 
had been two races on it, and each had oe- 
cupied practically the whole of it. The 
first was, to judge by its shell heaps and 
other remains, a people of Northern origin, 
and the other was of the Carib race. At the 
time of the occupation by the Spanish the 
population was, according to their reports, 
as dense asitis now. It is now the most 
densely populated rural community proper 
on the continent of America. It has up- 
wards of 230 inhabitants to the square mile, 
and this is strictly rural, as it has no great 
cities, the largest being of less than 40,000 
inhabitants. The people generally live in 
the country, and the country huts are 
scattered in all sorts of places, expected 
and unexpected, from the crests of the 
mountains to the coasts. 
Under these conditions only a very small 
original or wild fauna can be expected. 
Generally speaking, the largest wild mam- 
SCIENCE. 
LN. S. Vou. X. No. 244. 
mal is a ground squirrel, about the size of 
a gopher. A few others of larger size are 
reported from time to time, but they are 
only occasional and are probably animals 
escaped from cultivation. Probably the 
larger animals once existed, and their traces 
could doubtless be found by a linguist in 
the place names which abound all over the 
island and are quite often not Spanish, but 
these creatures have been so long gone that 
they are not even mentioned by the natives, 
nor do the customary traditions otherwise 
refer to them. 
The largest bird on land is the pretty 
white heron, of about the same size as the 
common heron of the Northern States. 
It belongs in the swamps. The nightin- 
gale is not rare, and sometimes in winter 
some of the Northern songbirds are seen, 
but in general the avian fauna is very 
sparse. The song and twitter of the birds 
is very rarely heard. Along the coasts the 
pelican, large and clumsy looking, except 
on the water, is very common where it is 
very much occupied with its profession of 
fisherman. It prefers protected harbors to 
the open water outside, and shows no 
greater shyness of man than to keep in the 
less disturbed waters of the ports. 
The most common quadruped, by all odds, 
is the little lizard or swift, which can be 
seen almost anywhere in the sun and even 
frequently penetrates houses and lives with 
the family. They are very quick, intelli- 
gent, cleanly creatures and are only dan- 
gerous to cockroaches, flies and other small 
vermin. The largest land reptile is a snake, 
which sometimes reaches six or eight feet in 
length, something like the black snake, but 
called a python. It does no harm, so far as 
learned. There are a few other species of 
less size whose venom is not yet proved and 
is not feared by the natives. 
The land crabs, snails and other such 
creatures are far from common, except in 
marshy places and near the coast. The 
