THE NEOTROPICAL REGION. 
63 
jCHAP. XIV.] 
found in Hayti and tlie other large islands, and it is not im- 
probable that species allied to Nasua and Dasyprocta did 
exist, and have been destroyed by the dogs of the invaders ; 
though, on the other hand, these names may have been applied 
to the existing species, which do bear some general resemblance 
to these two forms. 
The Chiroptera, or bats, are represented by a large number of 
species and by several peculiar genera. The American family 
of Phyllostomidse or vampires, has six genera in the Antilles, of 
which three, Lonchorina , Brcichyphylla, and Phyllonycteris, are 
peculiar, the latter being found only in Cuba. The Vesperti- 
lionidae have four genera, of which one/ Nycticellus, is confined to 
Cuba. There are six genera of NToctilionidse, of which one, 
Phyllodia, is confined to Jamaica. 
The Insectivora are represented by the genus Solenodon, of 
which two species are known, one inhabiting Cuba the other 
Hayti. These are small animals about the size of a cat, with 
long shrew-like snout, bare rat-like tail, and long claws. Their 
peculiar dentition and other points of their anatomy shows that 
they belong to the family Centetidae, of which five different genera 
inhabit Madagascar ; while there is nothing closely allied to 
them in any other part of the world but in these two islands. 
Seals are said to be found on the shores of some of the islands, 
but they are very imperfectly known. 
The rodents belong to the family Octodontidae, or, according 
to some authors, to the Echimyidae, both characteristic South 
American groups. They consist of two genera, Capromys, con- 
taining three or four species inhabiting Cuba and Jamaica ; 
while Plagiodontia (very closely allied) is confined to Hayti. 
A peculiar mouse, a species of the American genus Hesperomys, 
is said to inhabit Hayti and Martinique, and probably other 
islands. A Dasyprocta or agouti, closely allied to, if not identical 
with, a South American species, inhabits St. Vincent, St. Lucia, 
and Grenada, and perhaps St. Thomas, and is the only mammal 
of any size indigenous to the Lesser Antilles. All the islands 
in which sugar is cultivated are, however, overrun with European 
rats and mice, and it is not improbable that these may have 
