Contributions to the Fauna of the Bahamas 



17 



^^m- m. 



specimens, representing almost all groups of animals but they are not worked up 

 yet. I am here trying only to give a sketch of the general character of the fauna, 

 discussing it according to the different regions in which it occurs : the land fauna, 

 the fauna in fresh and brackish waters, the sea fauna in its different regions, along 

 the shore, on the coral reefs and in the depths. 



(a) The Land Fauna. 



From what has been said about the origin of the islands and about their physical 

 conditions which they offer to animal life we cannot expect to meet with a rich 

 and varions land fauna. The mammals must be scarce. Only such forms that by 

 flight or b}^ means of floating trees, 

 stocks and so on, could arrive at the 

 islands, are to be found except those 

 introduced by man. To swim over 

 the broad waters separating the islands 

 from other land is not possible for any 

 land mammal. And accordingly the 

 mammals recorded are few \ Three 

 species of rats have so far been found, 

 amongst them the small house mouse 

 of the Old World {ÄTiis muscuJus L) and 

 the black rat {Mus rattus L), all intro- 

 duced. Several species of bats are 

 found, many endemic, but all belong- 

 ing to rather wide ranging genera. 

 Except these forms, in whose occurence 

 there is nothing strange, only two other 

 mammals occur in the islands, a raccon 

 {Frocyon maynordi Bangs) and a »hoo- 

 tie» [Capromys ingrahami Al^en). The 

 former, allied to North American forms, 

 but known only from New Providence, occurring in mangrove swamps, has in all 

 probability been introduced from the main land, according to an old tradition by 

 some plantation owners. The latter is found only on some very small keys, the 

 Plana Keys. Related species occur in the Greater Antilles but comparatively little 

 is known about them. 



The birds have been studied rather well and much has been written about 

 them ^. About two hundred species are recorded, but about half the number con- 

 sist of migrants or forms of only accidental occurrence. Several forms are endemic. 



Fig. H. Pines (Interior of Andres). 



^ Compare: Miller's paper in >The Bahama Islands». 



^ See: Riley's paper in >TAe Bahama Islands,^ and Chapman's in ^The American Natural 

 isU 1891. 



Lunds Univ:s Årsskrift. N. F. Afd. 2. Bd 7. 



