WE ST-INDIAN HERPETOLOGY. 
523 
workers to have collected into one list all the species that have been 
stated by divers authors to have occurred in the West Indies. 
As regards the Batrachians of the Antilles, with which Messrs. 
Eeinhardt and Lutken commence their list, the division of their Neo¬ 
tropical Eegion appears to produce no genera, absolutely confined 
to these islands. But Hy lodes and Trachycephalus are forms which 
are highly characteristic of this Fauna, each of them being repre¬ 
sented by several species, and being of less common occurrence on 
the South American continent. We may also notice as remarkable 
the entire absence, so far as is hitherto known of true Hyla , an 
almost cosmopolitan form, and one which is well represented both in 
North and South America. 
Amongst the Venomous Serpents of the Antilles the most remark¬ 
able is certainly the Bothrops lanceolatus, called the Eat-tail in Santa 
Lucia, and the Fer de Lance, in Martinique. This much dreaded 
scourge of the inhabitants of these islands is stated to occasion an 
average of twenty deaths yearly in Santa Lucia alone, and to maim 
or dangerously wound 180 other human beings. It is commonly said 
that one cannot walk ten yards off a road without being bitten. * * * § A 
special work has been written on its history and noxious qualities,f 
and the Society of Acclimatation of Paris has established a special 
prize of 1000 francs to reward the introduction into the island of some 
animal that will destroy it. J 
Amongst the Colubriform Serpents Dromicus is perhaps the most 
characteristic Antillean genus, the majority of its species being found 
there. § But Hypsirhynchus is peculiar to the Antilles, and no less 
than three generic forms, Arrhyton , Cryptodacus and Urotheca, are, as 
far as is hitherto known, quite confined to Cuba. Four genera of 
Boidce ( Vngalia , Homalochilus , Chilohothrus and AFotoptolis) are like¬ 
wise peculiar to the Antilles, whilst Boa and Epicrates are shared 
with the adjoining continent of South America. Anolis is certainly 
the genus of liza,rds most abundant in the West India Islands, but 
it likewise occurs in Central and Southern America. Upwards of forty 
described species of this genus are inserted in Messrs. Eeinhardt and 
Lutken’s list, but the group must pass the ordeal which it is now 
undergoing beneath the critical revision of Dr. Peters and Mr. 
Cope before all these species can be accepted as valid. Another 
highly characteristic group of Lizards of the Greccoid group in the 
* Trollope’s West Indies, &c. 
f Enquete sur le Serpent de la Martinique. Par le Dr. E. Eufz. 2nd edition. 
Paris, 1859. 
J Since the introduction of the sugar-cane into Martinique the European Brown 
rat (Mas decumanus ) has become very abundant, that Rodent being much given to 
sugar cane as an article of diet. The Bothrops has found the Brown rat a very 
suitable prey, having been in former days rather stinted for food, and has conse¬ 
quently greatly increased in numbers. It is now proposed to introduce the Secretary- 
bird of Africa (Secretarius repHlivorus ) in order to stop the ravages of the serpent. 
§ Including Alsophis in the same genus nineteen species of this form are enu¬ 
merated in Messrs. Reinhardt and Lutken’s list. 
