On the Flora and Fauna of Santa Cruz. 125 



the colonists who remained, set lire to the woods, and, going on 

 board their ships, became spectators of the conflagration. They 

 returned on shore after the flames were extino-uished. " 



Mr. Alfred Newton, in "Observations on the Birds of St. 

 Croix" (Ibis, I, 59, 1859). quotes Knox's account of the con- 

 flagration, and in his remarks rather amplifies it. 



"That the simultaneous and sudden destruction by fire of all 

 the woods on an island like this, would haye a marked and last- 

 ing effect upon its fauna, no one can doubt ; and one of its re- 

 sults may probably be traced in a fact ascertained by Herr 

 A-pothek Riise, of St. Thomas, that in St. Croix there occur the 

 dead shells of about a dozen species of terrestrial molluscs, of 

 which he has never found a single example iuhabited by the liv- 

 ing animal, though they are undoubtedly recent and not fossil 

 forms. It is difficult to account for the extinction of so many 

 species, unless it may be presumed that the changes brought 

 about in the island by so great a fire, rendered it unsuitable for 

 their longer habitation." 



I called the attention of Baron Eggers to this subject, and he 

 entirely discredits any such general conflagration. He informed 

 me, that old Perc Labat, when in 1700 he visited the island, 

 after its having been given up and abandoned by the French in 

 1676, found it entirely covered with wood, as did also the first 

 Danish settlers who, in 1739, went over there to found their 

 plantations. 



The destruction of the species of mollusca referred to, must 

 rather be attributed to geological changes. 



In the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (N. Y., IV, No. 

 2, July, 1873), a communication appeared from Mr. F. Hubbard, 

 on the subject of the desiccation of Santa Cruz. He wrote: — 

 '^^ At my former visit, twenty-seven years ago, the dessication (of 

 Santa Cruz) had undoubtedly made some progress, but it had not 

 been sufficient to make itself manifest in a very marked degree. 

 The change from fertility to barrenness, which at first must 

 have been almost imperceptible, is no doubt taking place in an 

 accelerating ratio." He adds : — "The final depopulation of 

 this beautiful island seems now to be written indelibly among 

 the decrees of fate." 



