FLOEA AND FAUNA OF CUBA. 



3G5 



Floka, Fauna. 



Cuba, the " Pcaii of the Antilles," is indebted for this title especially to the 

 wealth and variety of its flora, in which are represented nearly all the forms 

 occurring elsewhere in the "West Indies and along the Central American seaboard 

 from the peninsula of Florida to the Oienoco delta. All the large trees of the 

 Mexican coast, so remarkable for their majestic growth, for the beauty of 

 their foliage, the splendour and fragrance of their flowers, reappear on the 

 Cuban seaboard. Over 30 species of palms are hei'e met in association with trees 

 such as the pine, which would seem so characteristic of the temperate zone, and 



Fio'. 173. — Plantation of Pineapples. 



which gives its name to the " Pinos " Island, where it is found intermingled "with 

 palms and mahogany. The catalogue of 1876 enumerates altogether 3,350 indige- 

 nous flowering plants, besides those introduced by Europeans. But many of the 

 native forms have already disappeared, and the forests are now largely replaced 

 by plants of low growth, such as the dwarf ian-ipalm. (c ha mcerops), scrub, plantations 

 of pineapples, and other prickly plants. 



Before the discovery the only mammals in Cuba were bats and a few species 

 of rodents, such as the guaquinaji, which was probably a racoon (proci/on lotor). 

 The manatee, still seen in the Jardinillos cays, was very common on the coast, 

 as shown by the nimes of numerous gulfs, bays and beaches. The guaquinaji 



