230 BARBOUR: ZOOGEOGRAPHY. 



The Lesser Antilles. 



Although, generally speaking, the Lesser Antillean fauna may be said to 

 be a very homogeneous one, certain anomalies of distribution appear which in 

 some cases are extremely difficult to explain. At the present time the Fer-de- 

 lance, Lachesis, occurs only upon Martinique and St. Lucia; but early voyagers 

 wrote that the island of Petit Martinique received its name in their time on 

 account of the abundance of the Fer-de-lance there. It probably at some time 

 had a continuous distribution throughout the chain; but for some reason sur- 

 vived only on the two islands named. Other peculiarities are shown in the 

 occurrence of Gymnophothalmnus on Martinique and St. Lucia; Constrictor 

 orophias (Linne) on Dominica and St. Lucia, and possibly on St. Kitts. The 

 peculiar distribution of Clelia, Pseudoboa, Drymobius, and Herpetodryas 

 may be seen by referring to the table of distribution. Whether in some cases 

 accidental introduction has been accountable for these distributions, or whether 

 they have formerly been of wider occurrence and have died out on other islands, 

 is a matter upon which it is hardly worth while to speculate since we will never 

 know. Special mention, however, should be made of the fauna of Grenada, 

 which is far more like that of Trinidad and South America than that of any of 

 the other Lesser Antilles. Grenada is nearer Trinidad in point of distance than 

 any of the other Lesser Antilles, except of course Tobago, which is not Antillean 

 at all, but purely Trinidadian. This similarity in Grenada is not confined to 

 those organisms which, by their capacity to stand immersion in salt water, or 

 for some other reason, may be assumed to have come to the island fortuitously. 

 It is a fundamental feature which is most evident in those types that we know 

 are never carried from place to place by chance; and there can be but little 

 doubt that Grenada has been connected with the mainland of northeastern 

 South America more recently than have the other islands. 



Grenada. 



It is important in this connection to turn to the physical character of the 

 Antilles. This has been well described in the following terms by Suess (Face 

 of the earth, 1894, 1, p. 544-545) : — 



" The Antilles may be divided into several zones. 



" The first, innermost zone, which lies within the concavity of the arc, only appears in 

 the eastern part, in the Lesser Antilles. It is wholly of recent volcanic origin. This zone is 

 formed by the islands of Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Christopher (St. Kitts), Nevis, Redonda, 



