. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Zoology; Zoology. 418 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. while in Haiti, for example, three species occur in the very same localities. Since for a very long time there has been and is, especially just at present, considerable controversy regarding the origin of the Antillean fauna, we digress at some length regarding the light which a study of the species throws on the question. Bland (Ann. Lye. nat. hist. N. Y., 1862, 7, p. 335) was among the first workers in the field of Antillean zoogeography, studying the relationshi
. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. Zoology; Zoology. 418 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. while in Haiti, for example, three species occur in the very same localities. Since for a very long time there has been and is, especially just at present, considerable controversy regarding the origin of the Antillean fauna, we digress at some length regarding the light which a study of the species throws on the question. Bland (Ann. Lye. nat. hist. N. Y., 1862, 7, p. 335) was among the first workers in the field of Antillean zoogeography, studying the relationships of the Mollusca of the different His division of the region into faunal areas is interesting because his groupings agree well with those of other writers who have based their conclusions on other data. Bland proposed the following areas:— 1. Cuba and the Isla de Pinos, Bahamas, and Bermudas. 2. Jamaica. 3. Haiti. 4. Puerto Rico and Vieques, the Virgin Islands, Sombrero, Anguilla, St. Martins, St. Bartholomew, and St. Croix. 5. The southern Lesser Antilles, embracing those south of St. Bartholomew to and including Trinidad. This grouping of the islands is by no means inconvenient, but it is quite incorrect to conceive that these areas really represent zoogeo- graphic entities, or to say that they are anything more than expres- sions of the close similarity of some species in certain chosen groups. Our thesis is that the West Indian region taken as a whole has a singu- larly compact, homogeneous fauna, the same elements appearing on island after island. This fact is perhaps the most conclusive single argument against the theory of the origin of the fauna by flotation. Several recent writers, among whom may be mentioned Allen (Bull. M. C. Z., 1911, 54, p. 175-263) and Barbour (Bull. M. C. Z., 1910, 52, p. 273-301; and Mem. M. C. Z., 1914, 44, p. 209-347) have been especially active in advocating the interpretation which required a presumed connection of the Antilles
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