SEPTEMBER 22, 1899. ] 
be of interest in connection with the origin of 
measurements by the foot, the span, the hairs- 
breadth, ete. 
H. H. CLAYTON. 
BLUE HILL, MAss., September 5, 1899. 
THE FAUNA OF PORTO RICO. 
To THE Eprrvor or ScIENCE: It is some- 
what surprising to find in the current num- 
ber of ScIENCE (Sept. 1, p. 286), a paper 
by Dr. Mark W. Harrington on the ‘Fauna 
and Flora of Puerto Rico,’ which shows the 
writer to have, in some respects, less knowl- 
edge of West Indian mammal and bird life than 
was possessed by the discoverer of these islands. 
Columbus, in his journals, comments on the ab- 
sence of large animals in the islands which he 
visited and states that the only land mammal 
found was the Hutia, or Utia, on which he 
was feasted by the natives of the Bahamas, 
Hayti and San Domingo,’‘and Cuba. In the last 
named island the animal is still common under 
this name,* three species being known, viz., 
Capromys pilorides, C. melanurus, and C. prehen- 
silis. The remaining members of the genus 
are Capromys brachyurus, of Jamaica, now sup- 
posed to be on the verge of extinction, largely 
through the ravages of the Mongoose; C. 
thoracatus, a nearly allied form discovered by 
Townsend in Swan Island, and the remarkably 
distinct C. ingrahami, described by Allen from 
the Plana Keys, Bahamas, in 1891, when for 
first time Columbus’ mention of the Utia in the 
Bahamas was given a scientific status. In 
Hayti and San Domingo there occurs a member 
of the same Histricomorphine family (Octoton- 
tide), Plagiodonti azdium, an exceedingly rare 
animal of which little is known, and this, with 
the six species of Capromys named, two species 
of Solendon—one each from Cuba and Hayti— 
and a small species of Oryzomys from Jamaica, 
constitutes the entire known indigenous ter- 
restial mammalian fauna of the Greater Antil- 
*In Hill’s recently published ‘Cuba and Porto 
Rico’ (p. 55), this animal is miscalled ‘ Agouti.’ 
Only one species is said to occur in Cuba, and the 
creature is stated to be found in the Windward Is- 
lands, but notin Jamaica, whereas the reverse is true. 
There is, however, in the Windward Islands a true 
Agouti (Dasyprocta cristata), the only member of the 
genus occurring in the West Indies. 
SCIENCE. 
419 
les; there being, therefore, no indigenous land 
mammal recorded from Porto Rico. For this 
reason it is with no small interest we find your 
correspondent saying of the ‘wild fauna’ of 
Porto Rico: ‘‘ Generally speaking, the largest 
wild mammal 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 es- 
caped 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 * * *,”’ 
The ‘squirrel’ mentioned is as yet unknown 
to students of the Greater Antillean fauna, who 
have also failed to discover, either in the rec- 
ords of man or nature, any evidence of the 
former existence of large mammals in these is- 
lands. 
In respect to birds, it appears that both your 
correspondent and Columbus found ‘ Nightin- 
gales’ in the West Indies; an error as pardon- 
able 400 years ago as it is inexcusable to-day. 
FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 
AMERICAN MuseuM or NATURAL History, 
September 7, 1899. 
METHODS FOR A CARD INDEX. 
In the last number of ScrencE Professor 
Porter, of the Harvard Medical School, outlines 
a plan for a card Centralblatt of physiology, 
which when carried into effect will greatly 
smooth the way for students of physiology and 
related sciences. I am not, however, sure that 
the plan proposed is the most practicable. A 
card index is without doubt the most conveni- 
ent form of an index, chiefly because it can be 
continually and homogeneously increased. It 
is, however, bulky and somewhat inconvenient 
to use, and hence, I think, not suited for the 
publication of abstracts, especially when they 
extend beyond the limits of a single card. The 
most convenient and economical method of 
storing printed matter is in the form of books 
on a shelf. The card catalogue should be an 
index to these books. 
There should be for each of the sciences Cen- 
tralblatter or series of abstracts and probably 
one in each leading country so as to secure 
