CHAP. XIV.] 
THE NEOTROPICAL REGION. 
61 
form an unbroken chain uniting North and South America, 
in a line parallel to the great Central American isthmus ; yet 
instead of exhibiting an intermixture of the productions of 
Florida and Venezuela, they differ widely from both these 
countries, possessing in some groups a degree of speciality 
only to be found elsewhere in islands far removed from any 
continent. They consist of two very large islands, Cuba and 
Hayti; 1 two of moderate size, Jamaica and Portorico ; and a 
chain of much smaller islands, St. Croix, Anguilla, Barbuda, 
Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. 
Vincent, Barbadoes, and Grenada, with a host of intervening- 
islets. Tobago, Trinidad, Margarita, and Curasao, are situated 
in shallow water near the coast of South America, of which they 
form part zoologically. To the north of Cuba and Hayti are the 
Bahamas, an extensive group of coral reefs and islands, 700 
miles long, and although very poor in animal life, belonging 
zoologically to the Antilles. All the larger islands, and most of 
the smaller ones (except those of coral formation) are very 
mountainous and rocky, the chains rising to about 8,000 feet in 
Hayti and Jamaica, and to nearly the same height in Cuba. 
All, except where they have been cleared by man, are covered 
with a luxuriant forest vegetation ; the temperature is high and 
uniform ; the rains ample ; the soil, derived from granitic and 
limestone rocks, exceedingly fertile ; and as the four larger islands 
together are larger than Great Britain, we might expect an 
ample and luxuriant fauna. The reverse is however the case ; 
and there are probably no land areas on the globe, so highly 
favoured by nature in all the essentials for supporting animal 
life, and at the same time so poor in all the more highly 
organised groups of animals. Before entering upon our sketch 
of the main features of this peculiar but limited fauna, it will 
be well to note a few peculiarities in the physical structure of 
the islands, which have an important bearing on their past 
1 This name will be used for the whole island of St. Domingo, as being 
both shorter and more euphonious, and avoiding all confusion with Dominica, 
one of the Lesser Antilles. It is also better known than “ Hispaniola,” which 
is perhaps the most correct name. 
