34 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



ground for belief that they possess different origins 

 and have developed independently. One of these 

 subfaunas is of the Sierra de los Organos, another 

 of the mountain systems of central Cuba, and the 

 last is of the highlands of Oriente or Santiago 

 province. These three subfaunal areas are equally 

 marked by the distribution of other Cuban animal 

 forms, such as the insects and reptiles, but prob- 

 ably by them not so sharply differentiated, for in 

 course of time both insects and reptiles could have 

 migrated more easily than the slow-moving snails, 

 and could more quickly traverse intervening 

 regions not suited for a permanent home. Besides 

 these well-marked subfaunal areas there are three 

 others less distinctly recognizable owing to their 

 more composite elements. These are the much 

 eroded limestone mountains of the Havana and 

 Matanzas provinces, the Cubitas range of 

 northern Camaguey, and the low-lying coastal 

 strip of recently elevated coral reefs which almost 

 encircles the island. 



From whatever source came the Cuban land 

 snails, whether from some remote land connection 

 with Yucatan or Honduras, or whether, like Topsy, 

 they "just growed" from native origin, it is 



