664 W. D. MATTHEW ORIGIN OF THE ANTILLEAN MAMMALS 



from those islands which, lie within the shelf. In particular, the paral- 

 lelism with the Madagascar fauna is made much closer by the recent dis- 

 coveries. On the other hand, the contrast with the fauna of continental 

 islands such as Borneo or Sumatra is a marked one. On these islands the 

 fauna, although considerably specialized by isolation in Borneo, less so in 

 Sumatra, is a fairly representative one. It includes all or nearly all of 

 the important mammalian groups of the mainland save those which there 

 is reason to believe are of too recent arrival or of unsuitable habitat to 

 be present. 



It may be objected that this difference is merely apparent; that the 

 Pleistocene fauna of the Antilles was really of continental character, but 

 because they are islands and not continents, it has been easily extermi- 

 nated by man, and that the cave and spring deposits present only two dis- 

 tinct and very limited facies, not including the ungulates, carnivores, 

 etcetera, which have been present. The best reply to this objection is to 

 test it by comparison. Sumatra or Java are islands of comparable size 

 to Cuba; Borneo is larger; Formosa or Hainan are comparable to Porto 

 Eico. In none of these islands has the indigenous fauna been wiped out 

 to anything like the extent necessary to obliterate its continental char- 

 acter, although all have been inhabited by man for a much longer time 

 and in much larger numbers than the Antilles. The indigenous faunas 

 of Great Britain or Ireland are far from exterminated, in spite of the 

 great density of population and of modern civilization. 



'Not can we assume that a cave or a spring fauna is so limited in its 

 facies as to disguise a continental fauna type. The faunas of numerous 

 caves in Europe and North America have been examined, and wherever 

 any considerable collection is obtained it is clearly representative of the 

 continental type. Spring or bog faunas sometimes contain little except 

 hoofed animals, but I never heard of one in which hoofed animals and 

 carnivora were absent. I can not escape from the conclusion that the 

 Pleistocene fauna of Cuba was not a normal fauna, but deficient in most 

 of the more abundant groups and composed of a selection of a very limited 

 number of types which had expanded to a disproportionate variety and 

 importance, owing to the absence of the rest of the fauna. 



CONCLUSIOlSrS AS TO FORMER GEOGRAPHIC EeLATIONS AND MANNER OF 



Colonization 



As to the diverse origin of the several groups and the varying time 

 during which they have been isolated on the islands, I have stated my 

 interpretation of the evidence. I do not feel, however, that evidence of 

 this sort leads to positive and certain conclusions. 



