FERNANDO DE NORONHA 385 



Amphisbaena ridleyi, for example, is peculiar to the island, 

 its nearest relation living in the West Indies. The skink 

 (Mabuia punctata) occurs on the island as well as in British 

 Guiana. The snail Bulimulus ridleyi, as I have already 

 pointed out (p. 176), is the only living representative of the 

 Oligocene group of species which once inhabited Florida. 

 There are, moreover, two species of Opeas identical with West 

 Indian forms, while a Pupa seems closely allied to a Cuban 

 species. The single fresh-water species (Planorbis noron- 

 hensis) is endemic. The noteworthy relationship with the 

 Antilles is also noticeable among the plants as well as among 

 the marine forms living on the shores of the island. As might 

 be expected, this is attributed by Mr. Ridley * to the action 

 of sea-currents. No other theory of the origin of the fauna 

 and flora of Fernando de Noronha than that of accidental 

 dispersal by wind or waves ever occurred to him. Yet both 

 Mabuia and Amphisbaena are genera which, as I have shown, 

 can be cited with some justification as evidences of the exist- 

 ence of a former land connection between South America and 

 West Africa. And these, with a gecko of enormously wide 

 range, constitute the only members of the reptilian fauna. 

 Why should these ancient reptiles inhabit Fernando de 

 Noronha and not any of the more modern groups ? This 

 and other pertinent criticisms of Mr. Ridley's theory have 

 also been urged by Dr. von Iheringjf who shows, especially 

 from a botanical point of view, that accidental dispersal has 

 not played a very important part in the origin of the island 

 flora. On the contrary, he maintains that it is part of the 

 ancient Archhelenis which once united South America and 

 Africa. 



The small island of Trinidad, not to be confounded with the 

 island of the same name in the West Indies, lies much further 

 south, and about seven hundred miles east of the coast of 

 Brazil. It is now uninhabited, though for a time it contained 

 a small colony of settlers who left a few goats and pigs on the 

 island, which continued the destruction of the native fauna 

 and flora commenced by their late masters. The ground 



* Eidley, H. N., " Zoology of Fernando Noronha," pp. 473—502. 

 t Ihering, H. von, "Fernando de Noronha," p. 6. 

 L.A. C C 



