The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-11-18
THE ZOO GARDEN OF CUBA
Wonderful Discoveries Made by
American Scientists.
Crocodiles and Ferocfous Lizards Sc
cureu and Sent to Warrington
Among the Fauna of the Island
Hunting In the Mango Swamps.

The scientists OF the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition who were sent to Cuba for the pur
pose of collecting specimens Of the fauna
and fora Of the island have made some
notable finds. They have also met with
some extraordinary adventures. TIL fol-
lowing is the account given by Mr.. Will
liam Palmer, who led the expedition, and
who has Just returned. Mr.. .mer says
"Our natural history exploration was
| restricted to Western Cuba. We made a
camp at Pinar del Rio, In the province OF
the same name, and from there made
trips into the mountains and to the coast.
Next we went to San Diego de los Banos.
using that place as a base OF operations
in the same way; thence to Guanajay. and
from there along the north asst vest
| ward. Finally We visited the s nth coast
Of Havana Province and the isle IT Pines.
I'VE brought the great lizards alive
from the Isle of Pines to Havana and
shipped them to Washington In boxes
lined with grass. A number OF snakes
were forwarded In the same way, but
done up in cotton bags inside OF the
boxes, the main idea in transporting such
animals being to avoid rubbing. Thirty
two little crocodiles. too. we secured
alive, and fifteen OF them are now at the
Geological Park here, where they will
doubtless grow UP in the course OF time
and furnish cheerful attraction
"Of the big lizards called iguanas We got
| two fine specimens, one three feet long and
the other half foot longer. I am going to
| kill the larger one and make cast from 1t,
afterward painting the cast to initiate life
! as closely as possible, with the help OF the
/ smaller one for a model. The latter may
| then go to the Zoo. In Cuba one finds
these reptiles crawling about on the ground
in the woods, where they subsist on leaves
and fruits.
They arc extremely fierce, and the big
ones can bite very severely. Those caught
were taken with moose Of string on the
| end of pole. I kept piece of cord handy
in my pocket, and when I came across one
q! Of the creatures I made moose, attached 1t
| to the end of a stick and approached the
| iguana cautiously. AS soon as / had the
moose over its head I gave a Jerk, and so
had 1t dangling. 1t was easy enough then
| to imprison 1t in a box. Down in Cuba
are eaten so much they have become rare
Snakes used likewise to be abundant on
I the island, but during the recent war the
! starving people ate them up.
| Cuba is a great place for bats. and We
! had some exciting times catching them
There are more than thirty species Of these
| winged mammals on the island. and We Sc
cured abou. fifteen species. some of which
were hitherto unknown. One species has
| been known only by single type specimen
! in the Berl'u Museum, but we brought
back complete series to illustrate it
comprising both sexes-adults and young
ones. Some OK the Cuban bats have very
long tails and others surprisingly short
tails. while others yet have no tails at all.
Some species have sharp teeth and live on
insects. like our own bats. while others,
with stUmpy teeth. are fruit eaters.
I'VE got most of our bats in dry caves in
| the mountains. but in order to obtain q
certain rare white species we were obliged
to go into a cavern hundred feet under
ground, where 1t was wet and terribly hot.
The passage we went through first de-
scended, then assembled and again descend
ed. having form like that of siphon.
In a chamber at the curve of the siphon.
in the high part OF the passage, We found
the bats-at least 10000 of them. should
judge. The smell was horrible and the
perspiration ran from us in streams.
PERHAPS the most interesting animals
we found were huge rats. Of kind which
attain when full grown weight Of eigh-
teen pounds and length of three feet, in
GLIDING the tail. The biggest one we got,
however. weighed only ten pounds. These
rodents live chiefly on the bark Of certain
trees. They belong to the genus Capro-
popular sense, they are more nearly re-
lated to the guinea pig.
I'VE ate a great many of them. not be-
cause We found them very appetizing, but
for the reason that they were the only
fresh meat we could obtain. Sometimes
we cooked them ourselves, and sometimes
We turned them over to a Cuban native.
who was always glad to get them. and
dined with him. The flavor OF the meat
to
bit repulslve at the start, but we got used
to it.
There are two species of these rodents
in western Cuba, and they are known to
the natives as 'hutias.' Both species climb
trees, but the smaller one Is almost en-
tirely arboreal. and has prehensile tall,
by which it hangs from bough like
monkey. Americans on the island usually
mistake the animal for monkey. The
larger species lives mostly among rocks.
I'VE hunted the creatures with dogs,
caught them in traps, and shot them in the
trees. Sometimes the dogs would tree one
and Ii would run into a hole in the trunk
Then We would send Cuban up TO make
the hole bigger. and eventually the animal
would be dug out with a machete- We got
one albino hutia, which was quite nota-
BILE freak. The mango swamps along the
coast are full Of these big rodents.
the DdlS, There OHly LUX
species of mammals in Cuba Two Of these
we found in the western part OF the island
namely. the two kinds Of hutias. both OF
which have long tails. In eastern Cuba
there Is one species of hutia that has no
tail at all. and also In that part of the
country occurs the solenedon, which is q
very odd sort Of beast, representing an
extremely ancient type Of animal found
only in Cuba and Haiti, and nowhere else
in world though II has relative In
Madagascar. 1t is related to the moles and
shrews, feeds on insects. lives under roots
and rocks. and locks somewhat like an
opossum with white face and long whis-
kers.
1--WE brought back good many inter-
esting birds. There are about $50 species
of birds known in Cuba. and of these per-
haps one-half belong there. while the 9TH
er half are migrants. spending only a part
OF their time on the island. Some of the
native birds are gorgeously colored-as,
for example. those of genus of trogon.
which is confined to Cuba These trogons
make their nests in holes in trees. and
got one of their eggs out OF a hole in a
tree that grew in salt water. The 'tody.'
OF a family that is close to the kingfsh-
ors. is small but adorned with feathers
of rose. red, and green. Several species
of woodpeckers are likewise very brilliant.
Cuba has robin that is bigger than
ours and a good singer. Also there Is a
kind of quail, darker in color and much
more brilliant than our quail. Our king
bird has 4 much larger representative on
the island. where are also to be found
sparrows with yellow throats, and other
aparrows which are black, with white
spots on the wing. The black sparrows
are fine singers and the natives catch