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LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOHN I. NORTHROP
A NATURALIST IN THE BAHAMAS
JOHN I. NORTHROP
OcTOBER 12, 1861—JUNE 25, 1891
H Memorial Volume
EDITED WITH .A BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION
BY
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN
New Work THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1910
AAq222
COPYRIGHT, 1910,
By THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS,
Published June, rgro.
Norboootd Press J. 8. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co, Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
\
IN ADDITION TO THE PAPERS BY DOCTOR NORTHROP, THE VOLUME CONTAINS AN ACCOUNT OF THE FLORA AND NARRATIVE OF THE BAHAMA TRIP BY MRS. NORTHROP; A REPORT ON THE CRUSTA- CEANS OF THE COLLECTION, CONTRIBUTED BY PROFESSOR WILLIAM H. RANKIN OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY ; A REPORT ON THE ACTINIA, CONTRIBUTED BY PROFESSOR J. PLAYFAIR McMURRICH OF THE UNI- VERSITY OF TORONTO, FORMERLY OF CLARK UNIVERSITY; A LIST OF THE SHELLS, AS DETERMINED BY PROFESSOR WILLIAM H. DALL OF THit JNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM; AND A DESCRIPTION OF ICTERUS NORTHROPI BY PROFESSOR J. A. ALLEN OF THE AMERI- CAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. OF THE BOTANICAL COLLEC- TIONS, THE MARINE ALG WERE DETERMINED BY MR. FRANK S. COLLINS OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS, WHILE THE ACCOUNT OF THE YrALMS WAS CONTRIBUTED BY DR. O. F. COOK OF THE DE- PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM.
OTHER ASSISTANCE AND COOPERATION IS DULY. NOTED IN THE SEPARATE PAPERS THROUGHOUT THE BOOK.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . - 7 ‘ ‘ $ = ‘ . : 3 : HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN.
BAHAMAN TRIP, GENERAL NOTES . : 4 5 5 . 3 3 ALICE R. NORTHROP.
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS . A . . ‘ 3 Joun I. NORTHROP.
BAHAMAN BIRDS . : : : : . : ; . ; : Joun I. NORTHROP.
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS. . : . , : Joun I. NorTHROP.
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF /CTERUS FROM ANDROS ISLAND,
BAHAMAS . P a ‘ - s 5 ‘ : ‘ a J. A. ALLEN. THE NORTHROP COLLECTION OF CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS “
W. M. RANKIN.
List OF SHELLS COLLECTED BY DR. JOHN I. NORTHROP IN THE BAHAMAS IDENTIFIED BY PROFESSOR WILLIAM HEALEY DALL.
NOTES ON SOME ACTINIANS FROM THE BAHAMA ISLANDS COLLECTED BY THE LATE Dr. J. I. NorTHROP. WITH APPENDIX OF DATE OF 1908. 7 . z . : ‘ a ‘ z
J. PLayraiR McMurRIcu.
FLORA OF NEW PROVIDENCE AND ANDROS (BAHAMA ISLANDS) . ‘ ALICE R. NORTHROP.
CULTIVATION OF SISAL IN THE BAHAMAS : : 3 ‘ ° F Joun I. NoRTHROP.
THE ERUPTION OF KRAKATOA IN 1883 . . ‘ : ‘ é
Joun I. NORTHROP. vii
PAGE
27
48
50
66
69
99
103
119
212
225
viil TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE PLANT NOTES FROM TEMISCOUATA COUNTY, CANADA . . . . 240
Joun I. NorRTHROP.
PLANT NOTES FROM TADOUSAC AND TEMISCOUATA COUNTY, CANADA . 250 Joun I. anp ALIcE R. NORTHROP.
NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PLANTS OF MOUNT WASHING- TON, N.H. . . : . . : * 5 . 7 » 255 Joun I. anD ALICE R. NORTHROP.
A STuDY OF THE HISTOLOGY OF THE STEM OF THE WAx PLANT, HOYA CARNOSA (L.) R. BR. . ‘ ‘ . : . - 259 Joun I. NORTHROP.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Portrait of Dr. John I. Northrop ; : . , : Frontispiece
PAGE Ryswick . : ; : : . : 5 : Facing 3 The Bay at Nicol’s Town . . ; 3 : ‘ ‘ : i 6 House at Nicol’s Town x ‘ 3 3 J : ‘ ‘ “ 8 At Conch Sound : ‘ s : : : : i ‘ Ms 14 Fresh Creek é : , : ‘ 4 ‘ F ‘ F “ 19 Cabbage Creek . P A i : ; - , : 2 “ 20 Coming to Anchor off the Dames Place. : . é ‘ 22 Goat Cay, Andros. : : : 5 ‘ : ‘ : “ 32 Ocean Hole, Nicol's Town . ‘ é ‘ ; : ‘ : “ 34 Spruce Cay, New Providence, showing Erosion < «8 “ 40 Lcterus northropi Allen i ; ‘ ‘ " i ; “ 66 Crustaceans . ; : F . : F : - 97 Crustaceans F ; - . . . 3 . : A . 98 Actinians from the Bahama Islands. , : “ . Facing 116 Map of New Providence and Andros . ‘ i 5 4 ‘ “ 118 Main Street in Nicol’s Town. : : ‘ : : “ 122 In the High Coppet near Deep Creek ‘ ‘ é : F “ 124 Aletris bracteata ‘ : , ; : : ; ; ; “ 144 Hymenocallis arenicola a ‘ F F 3 ‘ : “ 146 Vanilla articulata . A 3 - é . “ 148 Phoradendron northropie . : ; ; : : : “ 150 Pithecolobium bahamense . : : ; : 5 ‘ ; “ 155 Cassia carib@a . : - p ‘ A . _ 5 . “ 156 Linum bahamense . ‘ . ‘ : : ‘ _ “ 159 Erythroxylon reticulatum . P : ‘ é : : “ 160 Crossopetalum cortaceum . F 3 5 » P 2 : “ 165 Reynosia northropiana ‘ : : ‘ ' . : : &é 166 Helicteres spiralis. ‘ : 5 j ; 7 ‘ : “ 167 Xylosma iicifolia me 6S ig ‘ : : F : rn 169 Terminalia spinosa 5 6 “ 172 Metastelma barbata . : : . 3 ; ‘ ? : “ 176
ix
x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE fleliotropium nanum . : ‘ 4 ie fy . Facing 179 Tecoma bahamensis . . F : : ‘ . : “ 182 Catesbea fasciculata . : i : 4 ‘ : : . es 184 Anguria keithiz . d ‘ . ‘ : : : ‘ & 186 Myrstiphyllum pustrifoliem : : ‘ . 2 ‘ “ 187 Eupatorium bahamense . . ; : . 3 ‘ “ 188 Swash, West Side of Andros’. . ‘1 ‘ , : . 218 Clearing the Pine-yard for Sisal near aay N:P « : : : . 219 The House of a Sisal Planter, Andros : 221 Map of the Islands of the Krakatoa Group bathe tap tion of doom 1883 -227 Section through Length of the Island of Krakatoa. : : ; . 229 Krakatoa after Eruption of August, 1883 ‘ i ‘ : . 231 Outline of Crater of Krakatoa. : ‘ : 4 . ‘ 2 x (232 Hoya carnosa (L.) R. Br. . z 7 : P ‘ : ; F . 274
Hloya carnosa . : . - : z 5 - 277
INTRODUCTION
Joun I. NortHrop was born in New York City October 12, 1861. He was named after his father, John Isaiah Northrop, born near Rochester, N.Y., a pharmacist. His mother, Mary R. Havemeyer, was a sister of Frederic C. Havemeyer, a graduate of Columbia Col- lege, after whom Havemeyer Hall isnamed. His father died when he was two years old.
Dr. Northrop studied for some years at a private school in New Windsor, N.Y., then at the Columbia Grammar School, in which he prepared for the Columbia School of Mines. He graduated with the class of 1884, with the degree of Engineer of Mines. While in college he was very fond of outdoor life, was a member of his foot-ball team, an enthusiastic fisherman, and interested in all outdoor sports. One
. of his former classmates narrates how he once saved a companion’s life at the risk of his own. They were ascending a shaft at one of the Lake Superior mines on a man engine when his companion, some dis- tance above, missed a step and was falling down the shaft. Young Northrop seized him as he fell and succeeded in holding him with one arm while he supported himself with the other, an act which called for a strong arm, quick action, and steady nerve, and showed that complete forgetfulness of self which was ever one of his most prom- inent characteristics.
Immediately after graduation he accepted a position in Have- meyer & Elder’s Sugar Refinery, but shortly afterward he journeyed to Deadwood, So. Dak., where he joined a former classmate, and together they opened an office as “mining engineers, chemists, and assayers.”’ He returned to New York in the spring of 1886 because of the serious illness of his mother, whose death occurred shortly afterward. ;
It was evident that his tastes did not lie in the direction of engineer- ing, and while the circumstances of his coming back to New York
were sad, they proved to be the turning point in his career. He xi
xii INTRODUCTION
immediately came under the personal and most inspiring influence of Professor John Strong Newberry, the veteran teacher with whom he had studied geology and paleontology in Columbia College while pre- paring for hisdegree. Hegreatly admired Dr. Newberry, who perceived his talents and showed great confidence in his ability, and who also was warmly attached to him, treating him like “one of his own boys.” On January 9, 1888, he was appointed Honorary Fellow in Geology in Columbia College. Seizing every opportunity which the museum and his close acquaintance with Professor Newberry afforded, young Northrop rapidly made himself familiar with the principles of botany and zoédlogy. He exhibited that breadth of interest which was such a marked characteristic of his master; but made a specialty of zodlogy, and delivered a series of lectures in this subject while holding his fellowship. He became a candidate for a higher degree, and in 1888 was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy on the presentation of his two dissertations: ‘Histology of Hoya carnosa” and “ Fossil Leaves from Bridgeton, N.J.”” The work on the Fossil Leaves from Bridgeton was carried on under Professor Lester F. Ward of the U. S. Geological Survey at Washington, and was ultimately to be published at Washington by the government. Previous to this he had published “Plant Notes from Temiscouata County, Canada,” in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, November, 1887.
After receiving his degree, in the summer of 1888 he accompanied Dr. Newberry to Colorado and assisted him in some geological work.
On June 28, 1889, he married Alice Belle Rich, at the time Tutor in Botany at the Normal College, New York City, a companion who shared all his scientific tasks and the value of whose assistance in all his work he never failed to appreciate and acknowledge.
Together they spent much of the summer of 1889 at Eastport, Me., and Grand Manan, N.B., dredging, shore collecting, and studying marine invertebrates. Dr. Northrop was an enthusiastic and indomitable collector and most careful observer, sparing neither time nor trouble to complete or render correct whatever he under- took. He never could stifle his sense of humanity through his enthu- siasm as a naturalist. The following, as an illustration of his love of animals, is recited by Dr. Arthur Hollick: While at Grand Manan, during the summer of 1889, he visited one of the little islands which the petrels had long used as a breeding-place. He took several of the
INTRODUCTION xiii
young birds out of their holes in the ground, examined them carefully, and, to the surprise of his companion, returned them, not taking even one for a specimen, although the birds were comparatively rare, and he was not likely to have such an opportunity again. He explained that he could not make up his mind to take one of these birds because he realized that each mother bird had but one little one all summer. He used to laugh afterward at what he called his “foolishness,” but this consideration for animals was one of his most charming characteris- tics.
In the early part of the year 1890 a journey to the Bahamas was planned. The islands of New Providence and Andros, especially, were visited and studied carefully. The amount and variety of material collected during this trip, which extended from January 2 to July 10, was remarkable; geology, botany, and zodlogy were all represented both in the collections and in the notes. From observations made on this trip were published his papers “Notes on the Geology of the Bahamas,” “The Cultivation of Sisal in the Bahamas,” “Birds of Andros Island, Bahamas.” Among his unfinished works almost ready for publication were: ‘‘A List of Starfishes and Ophiurans col- lected in the Bahamas,”’ and ‘‘A List of Sea-anemones collected in the Bahamas.”’
One of the birds collected on this trip proved to be new to science, and was described and figured by Professor J. A. Allen in the Awk, January 8, 1891, under the name Icterus northropi. The sea-anemones were subsequently handed over to Professor J. Playfair McMurrich for description.
The report on the plants brought together on this trip was pub- lished subsequently by Mrs. Northrop and forms part of this volume.
The autumn and winter of 1890 Dr. Northrop devoted to the study and preparation of these collections. In the meantime his ability was widely recognized. He held membership in the Torrey Botanical Club, in the American Institute of Mining Engineers, in the Linnean Society of New York, in the American Ornithologists Union, in the American Folklore Society, in the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science, and in the New York Academy of Sciences. He also was enrolled as a member of the International Geological Congress during the 1888 meeting.
During the winter of 1890 President Low and the trustees of
xiv INTRODUCTION
Columbia decided to greatly extend the zodlogical courses of the college, and Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn was invited from Prince- ton to plan a Department of Biology for the institution. The result was the creation of a strong department, including a number of pro- fessors and instructors. On the 5th of May Dr. Northrop was ap- pointed Tutor in Zodlogy in this new department, especially in charge of invertebrates. In order to perfect himself for the duties which he expected to assume he obtained leave of absence for a year and in- tended to start during the early part of September, 1890, for Germany to study under Professor Hertwig in Berlin and Professor Haeckel in Jena. :
At the very opening of this bright outlook for the future and attain- ment of this splendid preparation, in which Dr. Northrop had shown such rare ability and resourcefulness, came the tragedy of his sudden death, connected with the performance of his duties as curator of the zoological collections in the School of Mines Museum.
In the afternoon of June 25 Dr. Northrop had occasion to obtain some alcohol for use in the preservation of zodlogical specimens. Asa measure of safety the main supply was stored in a fire-proof vault under the School of Mines building. Two janitors accompanied him, and together they proceeded to draw off some of the alcohol from a large cask into a smaller vessel. The vault was dark, and a match was struck in order to see how the vessel was filling. Just what happened we shall never know; but the alcohol ignited, there was a momentary glare of flame around the faucet, a flash, an explosion, and a sea of fire inthe vault. All three of the men were thrown down and badly burned, but evidently Dr. Northrop’s clothing had become saturated with the alcohol, and his injuries were so severe that he died during the follow- ing night. On July 5, 1891, just ten days after Dr. Northrop’s death, his son, John Howard Northrop, was born.
It: is difficult to measure the loss to Columbia College, so soon (1896) to become Columbia University and to assume its important part in the scientific work of America. His memory will be per- petuated in Columbia by the Zodlogical Library which he was in- strumental in getting together, through the generosity of his uncle, Mr. Charles H. Senff, and in the zodlogical material which he col- lected and arranged for the Zodlogical Museum.
The finished and unfinished work which Dr. Northrop left behind
INTRODUCTION XV
him gave evidence of acute powers of observation, of painstaking study, and of strict regard for truth in the recording of facts, qualities which are the prime essentials of a successful man of science. Per- haps the most notable characteristic of his mind was his keen ap- preciation of underlying causes in the investigation of facts. His excessive modesty gave him an appearance of reticence and reserve which was not always understood by those who did not know him intimately. To his personal friends this reserve was merely one of the evidences of his high motives and scientific idealism. His ideals were further manifest in the indifference with which he regarded the discovery and description of new species as compared with the study of their underlying structure and life history. He was inspired by a passion for scientific work and also a passion for truth, which, with the greatly enlarged opportunities opening toward him, would surely have enabled him to leave a permanent mark on American science.
Dr. Northrop had in mind the ultimate publication of a volume on the Bahamas which would embody the results of his work there and of other contemplated collecting trips to the islands, and this memorial volume was planned to represent the carrying out of that project of ‘ his so far as possible. The contemplated work would have been far more complete and more worthy of the author; but we trust that this volume, which includes all of his writings, largely brought together through the loving care of Mrs. Northrop, will form a permanent memorial of John Isaiah Northrop, so that the memory of his labors and activities, brief as they were permitted to be, may live, and the influence of his example be handed down to future generations of the students of Columbia and of other universities.
HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN.
BAHAMAN TRIP
GENERAL NOTES By Atice R. NorTHRopP
Durinc the summer of 1889 Mr. Northrop collected and studied the marine invertebrates of northern waters at Eastport, Me., and Grand Manan, N.B. He was anxious to follow this up with the study of southern forms preparatory to taking a place upon the teaching staff of the newly organized Zodlogical Department of Columbia University. Owing to the wealth of their marine life, a trip to the Bahama Islands was decided upon, and when we found that their flora was only imperfectly known, it was planned to make a col- lection of the plants also. A leave of absence was secured and over six months were spent on the islands, two on New Providence and the remainder of the time on Andros. The scientific results of the trip, as far as the material has been worked up, are given in the following papers. Below is a brief account of our journeys and such general information as has found no place in the special papers. The follow- ing narrative is compiled almost wholly from my husband’s note- books and well shows his keen powers of observation and the pains- taking accuracy of his notes.
We left New York on Thursday, January 2, 1890, and at dawn on the following Monday the steamer dropped anchor off the city of Nassau. We found it a picturesque place, with white roads bordered on either side by low-roofed houses, often embowered in vines and set in pleasant gardens. ‘‘ The main thoroughfare and principal business street is Bay Street, running parallel to the water and extending east and west for several miles. A short walk to the west brings us out of the town. The roads and gardens are bordered with walls of coral rock, plastered all over or often on top only. In the parks and gar- dens and planted along the streets are cocoanut-palms, almond trees (Terminalia), with their dark green glossy leaves, Spanish cedars (Cas- uarina), the sand-box tree (H ura), and the silk-cotton tree or ceiba,
B I
2 BAHAMAN TRIP
with its spreading horizontal branches and buttressed trunk. The silk-cotton trees that have leaves show but few flowers, and the flower- ing branches are leafless. The trees that have flowers are one mass of buds. Although the silk-cotton tree is a native of more southerly islands, it flourishes on New Providence and is quite common about Nassau, as is also the beautiful “flamboyant tree” (Poinciana regia), from Madagascar. The latter has a dome of finely dissected, fernlike foliage, amid which, at the time of our arrival, hung the curious brown pods, two feet or more in length. On Andros, in June, the Poincianas were a mass of scarlet flower clusters, and as the leaves were not yet developed, the dome of flaming scarlet could be distinguished several miles from shore.
Almost all the inhabitants of New Providence live in Nassau and its environs, there being only a few small negro settlements on other parts of the island. In Nassau itself, said to have a population of about fourteen thousand, probably five-sixths of the inhabitants are negroes. ‘These live principally in the suburbs known as Grant’s Town, Bainville, and Fox Hill. Here their huts are close together and are generally surrounded by little gardens of cocoanuts, orange trees, and bananas. These Bahaman gardens look strange to North- ern eyes, for the vegetation apparently springs from bare coral rock. The surface, however, is much weathered and very irregular, and the scanty soil and leaf-mould that collects in the holes is sufficient to support the luxuriant vegetation.”
The chief boast of the people of Nassau is their climate, and after our six months’ sojourn we concurred in their opinion that most of the time it was as nearly perfect as aclimate could be. While we were on New Providence, the average temperature was about 75 degrees, from which point it seldom varied. From records kept by my husband on Andros, the greatest heat was recorded at Lisbon Creek on June 23, when it was 86 degrees indoors and 125 degrees in the sun. We had one ‘“‘norther” while on New Providence, when the wind blew a gale for several days, raising a heavy surf on Hog Island and Salt Cay. The waves broke over the latter in places where it was thirty feet in height. This was the only storm of any account experienced during the entire trip. During the first four months there was very little rain. Later in the year heavy showers were frequent, although there was rarely a day on which the sun did not shine for a time, at least.
Ryswick.
BAHAMAN TRIP 3
The greater part of our sojourn on New Providence was spent at “Ryswick,” a country place which we rented of one of the mer- chants in town. It was about three miles east of Nassau and near the best grounds for marine collecting. The house was situated on the rocky coastal ridge and commanded a fine outlook. The gray walls of old Fort Montague were on one side and Dix Point on the other, while we looked across the bay to the low, wooded cays known as Hog Island and Quarantine. Beyond these could be seen the long narrow ridge of Salt Cay. A man and sail-boat were engaged, and day after day we sailed to the outlying cays and reefs and collected along their shores. The marine life was so wonderfully varied and abundant that for several weeks we daily brought back starfishes, holothurians, crustaceans, corals, or sponges we had not found before. Dix Point and the sand flats in front of the house also proved profit- able collecting grounds at low tide. Occasionally we would try dredg- ing, but the coral heads and blocks made it difficult work, and we did not find it as productive as shore collecting. What is termed the “sea-garden”’ is near Ryswick. Here one looks down into a forest of alcyonoid corals, pink, brownish, and yellow, while scattered over the bottom were large sponges, some round and inky black, others clus- tered and purple-tinted, also huge brain corals interspersed with many of the delicate branching madrepores. Gaily colored fishes darted about, the most striking being bright blue, while others showed yellow bodies and blue tails or were silver spotted with crim- son. ‘The water was so wonderfully clear that it was difficult to be convinced that these marine treasures were not within easy reach. We also visited the living coral reef off Rose Island, some miles to the northeast, but the reef we saw later along the east coast of Andros was much larger and finer.
The principal work at New Providence was the collection of marine invertebrates, but between times, and when it was too rough to collect, we explored the island in many directions, visiting the south side, the southwest beach, the extreme eastern end as well as Lake Cunningham and the caves to the west of Nassau. Two or three hundred species of plants were collected on these trips as well as some birds and insects.
January 11. Drove across to south side of island. The north side, just back of the town, is a rocky ridge; then comes a comparatively
4 BAHAMAN TRIP
level space containing cocoanut plantations and a small patch of sisal hemp. In the uncleared lowlands Pinus Bahamensis covers the ground. The higher parts are covered with angiosperms. Near the water the land is very low, the soil soft and calcareous. The only vegetation seems to be numerous, small, scattered mangroves and a few buttonwoods (Conocar pus).
February 3. To Lake Cunningham. Followed the road through part of Grant’s Town, then a winding road leading through a pine barren for about five miles in a general southwesterly direction. Crossed a number of ridges running north and south. Noticed some large banana holes. The pines have mostly been cut down, and the ground is covered with a second growth. At the eastern end of the lake is a mangrove swamp. The lake is perhaps a mile and a half long and about a half of a milewide. The water is slightly brackish. A great number of shells on the bottom, near the shore; collected some (determined as Arca Jamaicensis by Dr. Dall). The drive home showed the lake to be quite close to the sea. The country to the west of the city is quite flat.
February to. In evening walked to Fort Montague. Water very . calm. Saw a worm about an inch and a half long swimming through the water and leaving a bright phosphorescent track. Came back to house to get glasses and net. Walked out in water. The bottom was phosphorescent, every step causing it to scintillate for a circle three or four feet in diameter. Agitation of the surface produced no light. Here and there at the bottom were small glowing spots which appeared to be bivalved crustaceans.
February 20. Fishing at sea-garden. The noise made by market fish and grunts is produced in the following manner: The upper pharyngeals are drawn together and backward; the lower is pushed upward and forward, thus grating on the other two. The noise is slight, resembling that made by the finger-nail in scratching across the grain of a board.
February 21. Shark fishing to the north of Salt Cay. Caught one known as amackerel shark. Color dark steel-gray above and on sides, as far as line between pectoral and ventral fins, below this a pure white with only few blotches of gray, to anal fin, behind which the gray predominates. The nictitating membrane is white and slides over the eye from below. The teeth are serrated, with a deep notch in the
BAHAMAN TRIP 5
outer side so that the point projects outward. Nostrils are double, the one nearest the median line being covered by a flap of skin. The head viewed from above is very obtuse, almost truncate, and the eye is just visible; gill openings fine. There are two dorsals; one, slightly in advance of half the distance between the pectorals and ventrals, is about as high as long, with a point projecting behind half as long as base of fin. Second dorsal is almost opposite the anal fin, but slightly in advance of it. There is a pit at base of caudal fin, both above and below. The upper lobe of caudal fin twice as long as lower lobe and has notch in lower edge near the end. The ventrals are quite.close to the anal, so that the subcylindrical claspers touch the anal. The pectorals are large and are continued behind near the base. Length of shark from fork of tail to end of nose, 8 feet 4 inches; from tip of tail, 10 feet 4inches. Parasites taken from shark: (1) A Remora-like fish; (2) a crustacean found in gill-slit; (3) leechlike parasite from roof of mouth one and three-quarters inches in length when fully ex- tended.
March 5. Dug for Balanoglossus in the sand near Dix Point. Their holes are marked by a pile of castings. The holes extend down- ward, usually with a curve, to the rock. Followed one of the holes down straight about ten inches, then along in a spiral for about eigh- teen inches to the rock, where I found a Balanoglossus. Followed two more holes, but lost them before reaching the animal. When found, the whole animal is surrounded by a transparent gelatinous coating. Laid one on paper; when extended, it is twelve inches in length. Put one in fresh water, caused strong contraction; added some alcohol to salt water, caused contraction and a discharge of mucus, like the white of an egg. Shortly after added considerably more alcohol.
March 6. Balanoglossus in very bad condition this morning. They are coated with mucus, and so soft they will hardly hold together.
[July 5. (After our return from Andros.) Went out to Ryswick and dug more Balanoglossus. Some were over two feet long. When an animal was laid on paper, the slime was strongly luminous with a greenish light that was visible within five feet of a strong kerosene lamp. The light was strongest between the folds of skin near the cen- ter of the body.].
After two months collecting on New Providence, we found little new material; the supply of alcohol was nearly exhausted, and we
6 BAHAMAN TRIP
decided to select some other island for our botanical work. Andros was chosen as being the largest and: least known of the group. Al- though the nearest part of this island is only twenty-five miles from New Providence, we could get but very meager information concern- ing it. The Nassauans know scarcely anything of what they rather contemptuously designate the “out islands.” Every one tried to dissuade us from going to Andros, assuring us that “there were no white people, no roads, and nothing to eat.” We were finally fortunate in meeting Mr. Alexander Keith, of Edinburgh, who had just bought two thousand acres on Andros and started a sisal plantation. He kindly told us of a little house we might hire at Nicol’s Town, the most northerly settlement. We added a camping outfit to our baggage, hired a sloop, and then, with all our goods and chattels packed, were fain to wait ten days on the pleasure of the wind. We had just had a heavy “norther,” and our captain could not be persuaded to start as long as the winds were high, the east coast of Andros being fringed with a dangerous reef and without a single harbor. Finally on March 14 we crossed the Tongue of Ocean, making the thirty-five or forty miles in about eight hours. We passed through a narrow opening in the reef and disembarked at Nicol’s Town on a beautiful, curving, white beach with thatched huts showing here and there through a fringe of waving palms. The justice of the peace, a stal- wart negro, welcomed us to Andros and led the line of march to the “mission house,” where we were to stay. A large contingent of the villagers followed, bearing our boxes and various pieces of baggage on their heads. The house was only eighteen and a half by ten feet, but it was divided into two rooms and boasted two doors and six win- dows. It was what is called a “tabby house,” one made of coral blocks, plastered inside and out. Daylight could be seen here and
there through the shingled ro- ‘be house was prettily situated on a rise of ground, a little apart ae rest of the settlement. Orange trees were in bloom just c the windows, and gum-elemi and
cassada trees shaded the doo: srd. The gum-elemi proved a great attraction to the birds, and there would often be seven or eight on it at once, representing three or four species. The most frequent visi- tors were the mocking birds, cat birds, the Tom-James bird (Spin- dalis zena), and the grassquit (Euetheia bicolor). When we passed from the coppet to the pine-yard, these were replaced by the blue-
The Bay at Nicol’s Town.
BAHAMAN TRIP Z
gray gnatcatcher, the pine warbler, and the beautiful little humming- bird known as the wood-star.
We made Nicol’s Town our base of operations for about seven weeks, collecting in the immediate neighborhood and also making a number of more extended trips. As comparatively little seems to be known of the interior and west side of Andros, the following account of our journeyings is given in considerable detail. ‘‘ Nicol’s Town it- self was a straggling village, having, according to Mr. Davis, Justice of the Peace, a population of ‘three hundred and odd.’ There were three churches, Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopalian, and still another was in process of construction. There is a schoolhouse and a small jail on the hill; the latter is said to be generally empty. The houses here are mostly square and are either built of coral rock like ours or are of timber with smaller sticks interlaced or ‘ wattled’ on which the plas- ter is laid. They have sloping roofs thatched with palms. There is but one well in the village, and the water in that rises and falls with the tides. It is very poor, hardly fit to drink; even when boiled it has a brackish taste. We mostly use jelly-cocoanuts and oranges when we can get them.”
March 26. The weather is cold, thermometer 62 at 6.40 P.M. A hard northeast wind is blowing. In the morning walked along the beach north of the village, passing through a grove of cocoanut-palms with here and there a few houses. Some of the trees had been blown down, but continued to grow so that while about twenty feet of the trunk lay on the ground, six or eight feet was growing upwards at right angles to the rest. As the roots were almost entirely out of the ground and resting on one edge, and as I did not see any secondary roots at the bend, it would seem as if the cocoanut required very little nourishment from the soil. The beach along which we walked for about three miles was fringed with the sea-grape (Coccoloba uvifera), back of this for most of the distance were three rows of cocoanut- palms. The few houses stood back of these, and behind the houses was “‘the bush.”
March 17. After breakfast shot some birds. We then walked a short distance through the village, turned south into a path leading past a few scattered houses, a new sisal field and in about three- quarters of a mile reached the pine-yard. The path was just wide enough for single file, and on each side the trees and shrubs made an
8 BAHAMAN TRIP
impenetrable bush. The path was exceedingly rough and at times passed close to the edge of deep banana holes. In the pines saw some rain crows (Crotophaga ani). Insects seemed very scarce; caught two butterflies. The largest pine seen was about twenty-four inches in diameter and about fifty feet high. The bark is gray, quite rough and detaches easily in flakes, leaving the exposed part dull, reddish brown. The branches are near the top of the tree, and the leaves towards the ends of the branches. The cones are very numerous and are sessile below the leaves.
March 18. Started with Mr. Davis (the justice of the peace) to visit some caves near Morgan’s Bluff. On the way we called on a Mr. James, who took us to see his cave, a long, low chamber on the side of a hill. Some of the openings were about thirty feet in height, and from the overhanging rock, which was about three feet thick, hung down the long aérial roots of a Ficus, making great bars across the mouth of the cave. Near by was what is called the ‘‘sea-hole or ocean hole,’ perhaps a hundred feet in diameter and from twenty to forty feet in depth. (See account of the geology.) After visiting this we continued our walk to Morgan’s Bluff at the northern end of the island. The rock here was quite precipitous, much water-worn and about fifteen feet in height. The cave which was near here had a small entrance about the size of an ordinary door. A second opening led into a larger room in which we could stand erect. Found a human humerus on the ground. Mr. Colby, the owner of the cave, said that all the earth had been taken out about thirteen years before, sold for a dollar a ton and taken to Port Royal, S.C. He also said that he had collected the bones and buried them again. On the roof of the cave a number of small stalactites showed that the water dissolved some of the lime as it trickled through. On the return trip Mr. Davis showed us what are here called “cinnamon trees’? (Canella Winterana), also the mahogany and madeira trees. The so-called “road,” in reality a narrow path, was very rough, and we were tired when we reached our cabin, although we had only walked about eight miles.
March 20. Found some large soldier-crabs under a stone, and this evening when I went out to open a cocoanut, I saw eight or nine of them around the place. I watched them feeding on the cocoanut jelly. They seem largely nocturnal in their habits. Caught and pre- served two males.
Our House at Nicol’s Town.
BAHAMAN TRIP 9
March 21. Boy brought some lizards. One had its tail broken off. I placed it on the ground, where it opened its mouth and kept facing my hand, at the same time distending its gular sac in evident anger. This shows that the extension of the gular sac is sometimes a mark of anger, still it is possible that it might have been pain.
March 29. In afternoon walked to Cocoanut Point, about a mile and a half south. Very warm. Road mostly over the rough rock on the shore, the rest on sand under the cocoanuts. A little distance beyond the point were met by Mr. Keith, who sailed us to his sisal plantation on Conch Sound about five miles away. We had a fair wind and soon entered the sound, and in a short time were sailing through a winding creek, bounded on each side by mangroves. The house stood in a small clearing surrounded by pine trees and a coppet of smaller hardwood trees. A short walk through the pines took us to the sisal field. Mr. Keith has cleared about three hundred acres of his land and has it partly planted. Our path was an old road, where we could plainly see the marks of wagon wheels, said to have been made about fifty years before, during the slave time. Near the house is a large chimney and the remains of a generous fireplace. Many swal- lows were flitting over the clearing.
March 30. Walked along a path through the woods near the shore and found a number of plants we had not seen at Nicol’s Town. There were many bromeliaceous plants and a number of orchids, some in fruit and a few in flower. On the return to Nicol’s Town saw in the shallow water of the creek what was known as the “boiling hole.” (See notes on geology.) There were a number of large fish in the hole. These are sometimes obtained by pounding up the bark of one of the native trees (Ichthyomethia piscipula), placing it in a sack, and sinking it in the hole. This is said to stupefy the fish, which then float to the surface.
Monday, April 14. Left Nicol’s Town in a small sloop, the Her- ald, for a short trip to the west coast. The Herald was about one ton burden and drew from one to two feet of water. It was manned by a negro captain and cook. Mr. Keith accompanied us. Passed the end of the reef a short distance above Nicol’s Town; shortly after went around Morgan’s Bluff, the rocky precipitous cliff fifteen or eigh- teen feet in height that forms the northern end of the island. We reached Lowe Sound about noon, then sailed for a long distance in
10 BAHAMAN TRIP
shallow water; long sand-bars, some exposed and some under water, and a few cays showing to seaward. On one were a number of terns and a pair of oyster-catchers. Shot one of the latter; as it fell in the water a barracuda snatched at it, but was beaten off by one of the men with a harpoon. There were a number of sharks about, some five or six feet in length. Although our boat drew less than two feet, we were stranded on a sand-bar until four o’clock. As a consequence it was dark when we landed at Red Bays on the west side of the island. As walking about at night is impossible, we did not attempt to reach the settlement, but slept in a palm-thatched chapel near by.
Tuesday, April 15. Walked a short distance back of the settle- ment of Red Bays. The land was low, covered with palmettoes and the brier tree (Terminalia, one of the plants which later proved to be undescribed). Returning farther down the shore, first met with the marly deposit so characteristic of the west side. It is a very fine de- posit, and so soft that in some places I sank in halfway to my knees. It extends back from high-water mark from an eighth to a quarter of a mile. In some places along shore are mangrove swamps. ‘There were also some mangroves beyond high-water mark, but these are small and apparently not thriving. About two miles below the little chapel where we had spent the previous night, we again turned inland across a savanna, a piece of level land covered with grass and rushes, where we found a number of plants new to us. (See account of the flora.) We then entered the pines and followed the path to an orange grove in a coppet, known as Lewis Coppet, where the house that had been vacated for us was situated. After some discussion three shil- lings currency was agreed upon as the price of rent per day and two shillings sterling to be paid the wife for the five days’ cooking. This, I may say in passing, was higher than the usual rates asked.
April 16. Mr. Keith left. Very warm, thermometer 82. The walking is very rough, but not as bad as back of Nicol’s Town. There are many banana holes. The soft soil covers the depressions in the rock for a long distance from the water.
April 17. Out shortly after dawn. Followed a path through the coppet southwest, then on through grass and palmettoes to a small patch of woods beyond. Near here there was an agave in bloom, the first we had seen. The flower stalk rose about twenty-five feet in the air and was about eight inches thick at a distance of four or five feet
BAHAMAN TRIP 11
from the ground. At the top the branches were thickly covered with the golden blossoms. These are a great attraction to the birds, as we have seen about it a number of the cocoanut birds, the Bahama fly- catcher, and the Cape May warbler. The latter was seen sipping the liquid in the flowers. Many insects and humming-birds are also flit- ting about them. (It was here that we first saw the males of the bird that proved to be an undescribed species of oriole later named after us by Dr. Allen.) Shot off some of the flowers.
April 19. Up at sunrise; walked out to the agave again to take a photograph. A short distance beyond the agave the palmettoes grew fewer and fewer until at length there was nothing but the scattered mangroves and here and there a clump of the prickly “brier tree.” Farther yet nothing to be seen to the south and southwest but a level plain dotted with small mangroves. To the north, a dark line of pines was discernible. The rest of the day was spent in shooting and skinning smallbirds. They were unusually numerous about the house. For several days numbers of warblers arrived during the night, evi- dently migratory birds on their way north. Having heard that fla- mingoes, in native parlance “filimingoes,” were plentiful some miles farther down the coast, we decided to make a trip there after spending five days at Lewis Coppet.
April 20: By 7.30 A.M. we were down at the boat. Got in the small boat and were pushed out by the men halfway to the larger boat that lay almost aground over a quarter of a mile from shore. About 12.30 we landed at a place called Cedar Coppet. The beach at high- water mark was composed of the same fine chalky deposit as at Red Bays, but it was whiter. The pines here come within a quarter of a mile of the shore, only a mangrove flat lying between. We left Cedar Coppet about two and sailed down the coast to what the men called Loggerhead Creek, but which seems to be the Deep Creek of the maps. It was about twenty-five miles south of Red Bays and was the first creek of any size passed. It was a little over a quarter of a mile in width at the mouth, but soon narrowed to about seventy-five yards. Sailed in a short distance and anchored; the tide falling, we were soon aground. The shore was very soft, white above, blue gray beneath. Back of the bordering mangroves was a bit of coppet on a slight eleva- tion where we made a lean-to of palm leaves for the night.
April 21. Went up the creek about a mile in the small boat, then
12 BAHAMAN TRIP
left it and walked to a small pond. The land was level as far as we could see, with the exception of a small coppet here and there. A walk of about three-quarters of an hour brought us near a pond, and in the distance we could see a scarlet patch, our first sight of flamingoes. We got within about three hundred yards when they flew away. There were four of them. We walked to another lake where we saw five more, and I got within two hundred yards when they too flew away, looking very brilliant and showing the black of their wings. Walked to a large mangrove in the lake and shot a switching-neck, a blue crane, and two long-shanks. Walking in the lake was exceedingly difficult, the water being about three inches deep and the mud, into which I sank at every step, eighteen or more. The “tell-bill-willy” was very common, its shrill notes being heard on every side.
Walked three or four miles farther to “ Two-camp Lake,” which was so extensive we could see neither end of it. All the ground about here is said to be covered with water in the “‘wet weather,” in June and July. These lakes are evidently low places from which the water does not drain. It is strange that they contain so few mangroves, only one or two large ones, while on the shores they are scattered thickly.
April 22. Very strong northeast wind. Left our anchorage about five o’clock and sailed to the mouth of the creek, where we lay until midnight, when we got under way. Skinned birds on deck all the morn- ing, and by three o’clock we anchored at Red Bays; spent the night in a thatch hut about nine feet square and about six feet high in the center; it had a door of thatch and no windows. The ground back of the settlement is rough, but not as bad as at Nicol’s Town.
Wednesday, April 23. Beat all day against wind and tide on the return trip to Nicol’s Town; wind blowing too hard to let us go around Morgan’s Bluff, so we landed at Money Cay in Lowe Sound and walked to the village.
Friday, April 25. Walked to Cocoanut Point, left the path and walked back into the woods, had hard work to get through the bush. Saw a number of bromeliaceous plants and found that some of the orchids were in bloom. In the spreading base of the leaves of one of the former plants, a species of Tillandsia we had not found before, a colony of ants had their home. The thorax was brownish red, the abdomen black and pointed behind. They have stings, and when
BAHAMAN TRIP 13
running about after being disturbed carry their abdomens elevated, as scorpions carry their tails. A number of pupz were noticed.
Tuesday, April 29. Visited the reef this morning. Inside the main reef is a smaller reef of large coral, called “‘red coral” here, the same as the large specimens from Rose Island; some were twelve inches in diameter. These grew thickly together, and their flat spreading branches were very handsome. In some places were masses of dead coral that showed cavities and holes similar to those on shore. The water inside the reef has a depth of two or three fathoms in the deep- est parts, but outside gradually deepens. The main reef is about a quarter of a mile from shore. From half to three-quarters of a mile from shore the depth was found to be from fifteen to eighteen fathoms. At ten fathoms the water was so clear that we found objects on the bottom could be quite plainly seen through a water glass; at eleven to twelve fathoms the bottom could be seen and objects of different color easily distinguished. At fifteen fathoms only the dark and light patches could be made out. We were taken to a hole that proved to be a sandy space about a fathom deeper than the surrounding level. The bottom inside the reef, and outside also, is said by the sailors to be as “hard as rock.” In some places fragments of coral lay on the bottom in the same manner as I have seen them on the land. [Of this Andros reef, Professor Alexander Agassiz, in his “‘Reconnoissance of the Bahamas and the Elevated Reefs of Cuba in the Steam Yacht Wild Duck,” Janu- ary to April, 1893, says, “‘ This reef, though narrow, is one of the finest reefs I have seen, and the patches of corals and Gorgonias which flour- ish between the reef and the shore are not surpassed in beauty by the corals of any district known to me.”’]
We had spent six or seven weeks at Nicol’s Town collecting plants and birds, and towards the close of April prepared to go on to Conch Sound, four or five miles farther south, where we had made a brief visit a month before.
Wednesday, April 30. Mr. Keith came for us in his boat, which was soon loaded with our baggage, while we decided to walk. The path for the greater part of the way led through the pine-yard, and here and there through a coppet, until we neared Conch Sound, when it skirted the water until we reached Mr. Keith’s house. The evening was beautiful with a clear moonlight night. The “tell-bill-willy” of the willet was almost constantly heard, and there were frequent
14 BAHAMAN TRIP
splashes in the creek, presumably made by the barracudas. Conch Sound is a shallow inlet or bay, filled with small cays and mangroves and with a narrow winding channel. In places on the shore were great piles of the shells of the conch (Strombus). It is quite an impor- tant article of food on Andros, and it is in these shells that the pink pearls are found for which the Bahamas are noted. While Conch Sound was our headquarters, in company with Mr. Keith, we made a trip to London and Stafford creeks, eight or ten miles down the coast, stopping at Mastic Point on the way. An account of the trip follows.
Friday, May 2. Left Conch Sound about 9 A.M., wind nearly dead ahead. A hard rain fell just before we reached Mastic Point. When it ceased, we had our luggage carried to the house of Mrs. Bain, where we were to stay. It is a small settlement of not more than ten or fifteen houses built close together. It might well be called “Bainville” as everybody was related to old Mrs. Bain, our hostess, who was the patriarch of the settlement and whose mother and father were full- blooded Congos. The houses were better and neater than at Nicol’s Town, some even had a little porch at one end, while others had brightly painted woodwork. Several had flowers planted about the dooryard. Mrs. Bain’s house boasted a plastered floor, which was kept neatly sanded, and some fine pieces of mahogany furniture. There was, as usual, a table covered with an array of glassware and crockery, such as goblets, decanters, wine-glasses, lamps, and lamp chimneys. It is curious that these articles are never seen in use, but are evidently regarded purely as ornaments.
In the afternoon walked a short distance along a path through the mangroves. In some places where the rocks were overflowed by the tide, there were many sharp and jagged points. Later walked through a field where I noted corals in the rock and picked up a fragment. Beyond and farther inland was a slight elevation, on the south side of which the rocks were abruptly worn off, their appearance showing that the sea had once washed against the top of the hill.
Saturday, May 3. Started about seven o’clock in the morning, but were no sooner under way than there was another hard shower, lasting nearly an hour. The men poled a good part of the way, and we finally reached a large mangrove which was about one hundred yards long and fifteen to twenty wide. A pair of cormorants were perched on one of the top branches, and in the mangrove were many Louisiana herons
At Conch Sound.
BAHAMAN TRIP 15
which the men called “blue cranes.” There were a number of their nests in the mangrove, a few of which contained greenish eggs. Shot two of the birds. We sailed on to Wax Cut Cay where we had lunch. Near the shore were many Strombus shells which varied considerably in shape. In some the outer edge of the aperture was thin and ex- tended, while in others it was much thicker and narrower. The men called the thick-lipped ones “‘sambo” and the others the “broad- lipped conchs.” We found some intermediate specimens which were thickened but otherwise like the broad-lipped, so Berhaps the sambo conch is only an old broad-lip.
From Wax Cut Cay we sailed to Stirrup Cay, then past Rat Cay and Stump Cay, and between four and five o’clock poled up what we supposed was London Creek, but after proceeding a short distance, could see an opening through the cays:seaward, showing we were not in the creek at all. Went about four miles farther and then anchored for the night, pitching our tent on low ground covered with under- growth and with a few pines.
Sunday, May 4. Up early, troubled by sand flies. A short dis- tance above our camp, we entered London Creek. The men say that the land to the south of us is a cay without a name and runs up to a lake at the head of London Creek, with which Stafford Creek'is also connected. Our general course was nearly southwest, with many turnings. The creek in some places was narrow, but as a rule was perhaps an eighth of a mile in width. The water was only two or three feet deep, and the bottom muddy. In one place the whitish slimy deposit was six feet three inches in depth. The course of the creek was through the pine-yard; in many places the pines and pal- mettoes came down to the water’s edge, while in others it was bordered with mangroves. We sailed and poled up about six miles until the water became too shallow for us to proceed. We walked a short dis- tance through some swash, and then through pines, hoping to reach a lake that the men said was four or five miles off, but a heavy shower threatening, we made our way back to the boat. After the rain stopped we sailed back out the creek and down to Calabash Cay, at the mouth of Stafford Creek. Spent the night in an unoccupied new house.
Monday, May 5. Found Stafford Creek entirely different in char- acter from London Creek. The mouth was only about sixty feet wide, the water six or seven feet deep, and the current swift. After
16 BAHAMAN TRIP
running west for a short distance, it turned abruptly to the south and spread out into a lake-like expansion about half a mile wide. The shores are of hard coral rock, and the pines come to the water’s edge. It narrowed again and finally became a deep narrow winding stream that was fresh for the last mile or more of its course. At the extreme head the water became shallow, the bottom rocky in places, and the current quite strong, while numerous small streams trickled down the steep banks, into which some had cut quite deep channels. This narrow fresh part is called the “lake.” It was here that we col- lected two species of bladderwort (Utricularia), the only fresh-water plants that we saw in the entire island. We must have penetrated twelve or thirteen miles into the interior, through pines and palmet- toes all the way until we reached the head where we found swash running back perhaps two or three miles. In some places the ground was covered with mangroves for a long distance. Altogether the land- scape looked very much like that of the west coast. We left the head of the creek at about three o’clock and reéntered the broad lake-like part about five, camping at six on the north shore. Here the creek is half a mile wide; to the west it extends for two miles, and you can see three or four miles to the east. It is bordered by pines with an under- growth of palmettoes and brier tree.
Tuesday, May 6. Left Orange Landing, where we had camped, a place with a house and a few orange trees, at about 8 A.m., reached the mouth of the creek at about eleven. Here we saw Cacti for the first time, the “dildo” (Cereus Swarizii) which grew ten or twelve feet in height. (We found them quite common at Deep Creek later.) Yesterday the “doctor flies” were thicker than the men had ever seen them. These troublesome flies attack the feet and legs especially and inflict quite a painful wound. They troubled the men much oftener than they did us. About half-past eleven we started on our return trip and reached Conch Sound about half-past eight in the evening.
May13. Ournext undertaking was a walk across the island, from Conch Sound to the west side. Apparently no one had ever gone that way, for the men were unable to give any idea as to how long it would take. On May 13,8 a.m., we left Mr. Keith’s with four men and pro- visions for four days. Took a road through the pines, and in a half hour reached the beginning of Johnson’s Coppet, a rocky ridge rising in the midst of the pines and covered with a hardwood growth. Here
BAHAMAN TRIP 17
the banana holes were more numerous than anywhere we have been. Some of them were twenty-five feet in depth, but the majority only ten to twenty feet deep and perhaps eight to ten feet in diameter. Others again were shallower and only four or five feet across. Many of these holes were lined with drooping fern fronds, the most conspicuous being the maiden-hair (Adiantum tenerum) and the creeping Goniopteris, the latter with fronds often two feet or more in length and rooting at the tip. After a short rest entered the pines again.. There was no path beyond this, and we were obliged to cut our way through a dense growth of brake, the fern commonly called “Maypole” here (Pteridium caudatum). It was eight or nine feet in height. The ground was exceedingly rough, and the weather warm. The course thus far has been nearly southwest, and we have gone about four or five miles. The pines here are mostly seven or eight inches in diameter three feet from the ground. Some of them are larger and very tall, eighty feet at least. Passed through a tract covered with what the men call “bed- grass,” a species of Andropogon; then through Maypole again. A few palmettoes and cycads begin to appear. The rock is soft, but very jagged. Measured a large pine here and found it to be 4 feet 9 inches in circumference, about seventy feet high. A short time after this the pines began to be smaller and smaller, the palmettoes more numerous, the rocks rougher and harder, and banana holes more fre- quent. Now, at one o’clock in the afternoon, the pines are only three or four inches in diameter; keeping on over a very rough piece of ground, we finally see light through the pines. We reach the end of them about two o’clock and look out over a level stretch of ground like a prairie with a coppet on the horizon in the distance, the men say it is mangrove. To the southwest a long point of pines with water showing on this side. The level ground before us is very soft.and damp, a sheath-knife does not reach rock.
Wednesday, May 14. Left camp and started on the return trip a little after nine, reached Mr. Keith’s about half-past two.
Leaving Conch Sound May 22, we next went to Mastic Point, four miles below, where we stayed at Mrs. Bain’s, as before. Made several tripsto “the big mangrove” three miles below, where I secured a man-of-war bird. Also got a number of other birds and plants not collected before. A number of the days were more or less rainy. After exploring the neighborhood, we secured the Herald again for a month’s
Cc
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cruise about the southern end of. the island. Left Mastic Point Tuesday, June 5. Our first stopping place was to be Fresh Creek, fifteen miles or so down the coast. We passed Rat Cay, Stump Cay, Saddleback Cays, Calabash Cay, and the wind getting light, we ran into Stafford Creek and spent the night there:
Wednesday, June 14. Beat all day against a southeast wind; reached Fresh Creek in the evening. There is quite a large settlement here, and the creek more nearly resembles a river than any we have seen. At its mouth it is from fifty to seventy-five yards wide. The banks are rocky on one side, eight or nine feet high, the water deep and the current very swift. There is said to be no reef off the mouth of this creek.
Thursday, June 5. In the afternoon walked along the “ govern- ment road,” the only path at all worthy of the name that we had seen on the entire island. It was about ten feet wide and connected Fresh Creek with a settlement at Calabash Bay, about four miles northwest. It runs through the coppet all the way, with here and there a field. Found a number of plants not seen before, among them a pretty orchid. The great white land crabs are unusually abundant about here. We have had numbers of them about the house, and several times have seen long processions of them walking near the edge of the bluff. They frequently touched the ground with their claws and put them in their mouths. Were they feeling for water? ‘The people here say they go to the water to breed. J think there were more males than females, and the latter had no eggs under the abdomen. These crabs are common all over Andros and do great damage in the fields, eating the melons, tomatoes, corn, and even the bananas, we were told. Whole boat loads are taken to Nassau for sale in the market, and the men said they were less plentiful than formerly; on New Providence they have been largely exterminated.
Friday, June 6. Went out to Goat Cay, that lies off and slightly above the mouth of Fresh Creek. It is about three-quarters of a mile long and perhaps fifty yards wide. Here were numbers of the bridled tern (Sterna anathetus) which the men called “egg birds.” They flew about us and followed us around in an inquisitive manner, uttering among other notes a sharp “cur cur cur-r-r.””_ They were so tame it seemed a pity to shoot them. A flock of noddies (Anous stolidus) flew back and forth on the seaward side of the cay but they were much
Fresh Creek.
BAHAMAN TRIP 19
more shy. The southern end of the cay was lower than the other, being about six feet above the water. The surface was exceedingly rough, the rock being worn away so as to leave vertical, more or less cylindrical, columns varying from a few inches to over a foot in height.
Monday, June 9. Left about 7 a.m. and sailed up the creek with a southeast wind. The course of the creek is first through the coppet and then enters the pines. It widens once or twice and seven or eight miles from its mouth spreads out into a lake-like expansion, from three to five miles wide, containing small cays and mangroves. We sailed to the head of navigation and then poled in the small boat until we reached fresh water. Fresh Creek has two or three arms and must penetrate twelve or fifteen miles into the interior. In very wet seasons there is said to be water communication with Wide Opening and the lakes on the west side. We spent a couple of weeks at this settlement, finding the flora more varied than farther north. The thermometer ranged between 82 and 84. The mosquitoes were very troublesome for the first time. :
June 15. Left Fresh Creek. Continuing our course south, we passed High Cay and numerous smaller cays, finally reaching Bearing Point (called Salvador Point on the charts) at the entrance to the Northern Bight about five in the evening. Here the ridge seemed very high, apparently the highest land on the island.
June 16. The next morning walked to a high point from which a good view was obtained. It was about seventy or eighty feet high, and one could look westward across the bight to the horizon, where a few cays could be seen. The bight is three or four, in some-places five, miles from the northern shore to the cays that are scattered through it. One of the largest of these is Wood Cay. The coppet at Bearing Point has pines beyond it, and there are pines.on some of the cays in the bight. Going on board again, our next landing was at Cormorant Cay, a small cay, perhaps a hundred yards long by forty or fifty wide. Many cormorants were nesting here, and both old and young birds were numerous. Some of the latter were still in the nests, but the majority were able to walk. The little ones opened their mouths and darted at my finger. Later we entered what the men called Loggerhead Creek, one of the channels of the North Bight, and sailing through this to the west side, made north and reached Purser Point at evening- This point is near the southern side of what is called the Wide Opening»
20 BAHAMAN TRIP
a shallow bay or estuary two or three miles wide. We reached the point about five o’clock. The sun was just setting back of the white chalky beach which was fringed with an unbroken line of palmettoes; here and there was a mangrove clump, and beyond, nothing but water and sky. A desolate scene with no sign of life anywhere.
Thursday, June 17. Walked back from Purser Point. The whole shore deposit is much whiter than at Red Bays. In some places along shore the white mud has been washed by the ripples so as to resemble miniature cliffs. These were made very noticeable by the dense blue shadows. In places the water had washed out the foraminifera and left them here and there, in little masses along the water line. The deposit is very soft. Iran a pole into it nine feet at a distance of a mile and a half from shore, where, nevertheless, the water was only about eighteen inches deep. Birds were plentiful. We saw many flamingoes, some summer ducks, long-shanks, night-hawks, and herons. There were many ponds where the water was about a foot and a half deep. Returned to the boat and about three o’clock started up Wide Open- ing, proceeded about a mile. Spent the night in the rowboat. The mosquitoes innumerable.
Wednesday, June 18. Sailed up as far as possible, but we grounded opposite the narrow channel marked on one of the charts as the River Lees which connects Wide Opening with the large body of water known as Turner Sound. It was an unusually dry season, and to our disappointment we found it impossible to cross the bar at the mouth of the channel. Our supply of water was exhausted, so we were obliged to turn back and run down the coast again to what the men called Cabbage Creek, which seems from the chart to be the other entrance to Turner Sound. Anchored for the night about a mile and a half from shore.
Thursday, June 19. Aground again about a mile and a quarter from shore, took to the skiff, but were soon obliged to leave that also, and finally to drag the boat over the flats to the channel that runs out for about half a mile beyond the mouth of the creek. The creek itself is about half a mile wide at first, but soon narrows to about seventy-five yards, which width it retains for a long distance. The water in the center is about ten feet deep and the sides so steep that it is difficult to “set” up it. The shores are fringed with mangroves and palms. The creek is very winding, and the palms always grow on the outside curve,
Cabbage Creek.
BAHAMAN TRIP 21
the mangroves on the inside. We went up four or five miles to where the creek narrowed at the beginning of a large salt-water sound. Here the tide overflowed the land, and we found the same white deposit as on the shore. Redwing blackbirds and willets are common on the swashes. Got out of the creek in the afternoon, and with a southwest wind, started back for Loggerhead Creek. On the way passed a sponging schooner of less than twenty tons, with eight boats in tow. Two men to a boat and the cook made seventeen men at least on the vessel.
Friday, June 20. Loggerhead Creek. In the morning the men coming on shore with sponges for the crawls passed us, some of the boats sculled by small boys from seven to ten years of age. Later passed a sponge-crawl, built of stakes and resembling a weir. The sponges are soaked in these inclosures for about five days, and are then cleaned by holding them in the left hand and beating them with a stick. They are then left on shore until ready to be taken home. About noon the sky darkened to the north, and rain fell in torrents for about an hour. We took the passage known as the Middle Bight, passing many cays covered with palmettoes or with pines.
Saturday, June 21. Continued beating through Middle Bight, finally reached our destination, Mangrove Cay, towards evening. This is one of the largest settlements on the island, and it is here that the magistrate of the island lives. Both he and Mr. Mathews, the repre- sentative of the Episcopal Church on Andros, are white men. Spent the night with Mr. Mathews. The next day walked back a short distance. There are many small hills, the surface is rough, and there are numerous banana holes.
June 23. Walked to Lisbon Creek, about four miles south of the settlement. The creek forms the southern boundary of the Cay. The road ran along the beach towards a long point. Near the head of the point was a deep hole close to the shore in which Mr. Mathews said the water was twelve or sixteen fathoms deep. The diameter of the hole was perhaps a hundred feet. We crossed the point and walked along the southern shore to a house at the mouth of the creek, where we planned to stay several days. The coppet about here is largely log- wood (Hematoxylon campechianum). It is said that when once planted this will soon drive out all the native trees. Thermometer 86
in the shade.
22 BAHAMAN TRIP
Tuesday, June 24. Up at sunrise. Sailed up Lisbon Creek. Not far above its mouth it widens and is no longer a creek, but a large lake- like body of water, shallow and containing a number of large cays covered with pines. On these large cays are quite a number of iguanas. We saw several; they run with almost incredible swiftness. Got two small ones. They are said to occasionally attain a length of five or six feet. The negroes hunt them with dogs which drive them in holes, when they are easily caught. We were told they were formerly much more abundant.
Wednesday, June 25. Walked back to “high coppet.” The land was high and contained many banana holes. The trees were larger and taller than in the surrounding region. The largest was a ‘ horse-flesh’? that measured five and a half feet in circumference, four feet from the ground.
Thursday, June 26. Left Lisbon Creek, continuing our trip south, stopped a short time at Kemp Sound. Saw asmall gray owl and found some new plants. Shore bordered with cocoanuts and houses for a long distance, the high coppet behind them. No pines to be seen. Slept in the rowboat.
Friday, June 24. Sailed to Henry Dames, a short distance below Deep Creek. There are five houses here, surrounded with cocoanut- palms. We found Mr. Dames hospitable and intelligent. He gave us considerable information as to medicinal plants and the commercial value of the different kinds of wood.
Saturday, June 28. Walked back into the coppet about four miles over the “road” made by the surveyors. No pines in sight. The ground was high and very rough, and banana-holes were numer- ° ous. The place is known as the “high coppet,” and the trees are the largest we have seen on the island. MHorse-flesh (Lysiloma) and Ma- deira (Swietenia mahogani), between two and three feet in diameter, were common, and anumber of “‘nakedwood” trees (Myrtus punc- tatus) were over a foot through. We found many new plants. Igua- nas are said to be plentiful farther back and to sell for sixpence a pound. The negroes consider them a great delicacy. The rare blue thrasher and the white-headed pigeon were abundant about here.
Sunday, June 29. Left Dames at six o’clock. Continued on our way south. Beat against adverse winds all day, only got within two or three miles of Grassy Creek. Scenery along shore much the same as farther north, except the trees were slightly lower.
steletaty : te el
Coming to Anchor off the Dames’ Place.
BAHAMAN TRIP 23
Monday, June 30. Sailed to Grassy Creek, which is within a few miles of the southern end of the island. The creek is about seventy- five yards in width. The men said that the swash began only a short distance back. There was a party of turtlers on shore cutting up live hawksbill turtles. Astorm threatening, we did not sail up the creek any great distance, but turned back for Smith’s place. Thunderstorm very heavy, but we were not in the worst of it. The sky to the north was very black; saw a water-spout in that direction, the column slanted to the westward. There was a dead nurse-shark on the shore, found it to be 7 feet 11 inches in length, steel color below, darker above. Near Smith’s house was the largest ocean-hole I have seen. Smith says he has found no bottom with a twenty-fathom rope. Surrounding it, there is at low water nearly three-quarters of a mile of sand flat, the water being only about two feet deep at that distance from the shore.
Tuesday, July 1. Walked back over surveyor’s line. The trees and bush had been cut down and left where they fell. The ground very rough with large banana-holes. The swash was seen only a half mile back so that the coppet is here much narrower than at Deep Creek. Back to boat and waited until four o’clock for the tide to rise. Reached Dames that night, just below Deep Creek. Arrived at Lisbon Creek the evening of July 2. ,
Thursday, July 3. Packed and put specimens on schooner for Nassau. We started about midnight, slept on deck. Very slight dew. Reached Nassau evening of July 4, having been becalmed much of the day. A few days later we took the steamer for home.
It may not be amiss to say something here of the inhabitants and in- terests of Andros Island as we found themin 1890. All the settlements were on the eastern ridge, with the exception of the small one at Red Bays in the extreme northwest corner. The remainder of the western coast was practically uninhabited and was visited only by the spongers. The writer believes she enjoys the distinction of having been the first white woman to set foot on this part of the island. On the east coast Nicol’s Town was the most northerly settlement, then came Mastic Point, Stanniard Creek, Fresh Creek, Bearing Point, at the entrance to the North Bight, then Mangrove Cay, Long Bay Cay, and Deep Creek. At the time of our visit Nicol’s Town, Fresh Creek, and Mangrove Cay were the largest. All communication between the different settle- ments was by water, as there were no roads, the government road at
24 BAHAMAN TRIP
Fresh Creek being the nearest approach to one. What the negroes termed roads were only the roughest kind of footpaths leading back to their fields. The ground was on the whole very much rougher than on New Providence, and walking was often extremely difficult.
The people all seemed to be very poor. The majority of the men were engaged in sponging, and the women in consequence did most of the work in the fields. Some few owned their land, but the majority cleared a piece of coppet and started a “field” wherever they fancied, often four or five miles back in the bush. They raised corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas, and sometimes a few beans, pigeon-peas, yams, and tomatoes, usually only a few plants of each, set out at random. Their principal tool was the machete, with which they cut down the weeds and bushes and turned up what little soil there was in the cavities of the rock. A number of the gentlemen of Nassau had interests and plantations on the island. There were extensive cocoa- nut groves near Lowe Sound and Nicol’s Town; sisal plantations at Conch Sound, and at Kemp Sound just above Deep Creek, and a large pineapple plantation near Long Bay Cay. These, with the two sponge warehouses, one at Nicol’s Town and one near Mangrove Cay, com- prised the business interests of the island.
At the time we were on Andros there were only seven white people on the island, and for weeks at a time we did not see a white face. We found the negroes, without exception, courteous, hospitable, and obliging. More than that, as far as we were concerned, we found them perfectly honest. We frequently left our house open and un- guarded all day, yet not a single article was ever missed.
We heard that many changes took place shortly after we left. A large English company bought up a number of square miles and began the cultivation of sisal on an extensive scale. After a few years’ trial it was found that the financial returns did not come up to the company’s expectations, and the work has since been entirely abandoned.
SUMMARY OF THE COLLECTIONS BROUGHT BACK
VERTEBRATES
Mammals.— The only mammals on Andros were bats and rats. The bat was Macrotus waterhousei, kindly determined by Dr. J. A. Allen. The rat was Mus rattus.
BAHAMAN TRIP 25
Birds. — Two hundred and eighty-six specimens, representing twenty-seven families and seventy-four species.
Reptiles. — Lizards, many specimens in alcohol. The collection was sent to Dr. Cope for determination, but unfortunately the list returned by him was lost. The following note is from one of his letters: ‘‘There is no new species, but the Spherodactylus spectator is brought from the Bahamas for the first time, to my knowledge.” There were several iguana skins in the collection.
Snakes. — A number of specimens in alcohol, representing about eleven spe- cies. The largest was a species of boa-constrictor.
Fishes. — About twelve species represented.
INVERTEBRATES
Mollusks. — Four or five hundred specimens, representing one hundred and nine species. See list of shells named by Dr. Dall. There were also four or five Ascidians and Cephalopods.
Crustaceans. — About 375 specimens, representing sixty-seven species. See report by Dr. Rankin.
A number of centipedes, spiders, beetles, moths, and butterflies were also collected.
Annelides. — Numerous specimens.
Echinoderms include, in addition to the starfishes (a list of which appear be- low), many specimens of holothurians and sea-urchins.
Celenterates. — Numerous corals, including a number of alcyonoid corals.
Actinia. — Fourteen species. See report by Professor McMurrich. There were also a number of hydroids and several meduse. Of one of the latter which was sent to Dr. J. Walter Fewkes he wrote “‘the large black specimen I take to be a Linerges. The color is brown yellow in nature. Linerges mercurius Haeckel is figured in my Acalypha from Key West and Tortugas.”
There was also a set of Bahaman sponges.
Plants. — About ‘seven thousand specimens, representing five hundred and seventy species. See report on Flora of New Providence and Andros.
A collection of woods.
Various geological specimens, including fossils, specimens illustrating erosion, and samples of soil from various places. .
With much of the material were full notes, for it was my husband’s hope to embody the results of the trip in a volume which would be a contribution to the physical history, fauna, and flora of the Bahamas. The following pages show all that it has been possible to do towards fulfilling this plan. The greater part of the zodlogical material Dr. Northrop expected to work up himself. After his death, Professor Rankin kindly consented to determine the crustaceans and Profes- sor McMurrich to complete the work on the Actinia. It has unfortunately been found impossible to have the rest of the collection worked up. It was stored for several years, owing to the removal of the University, and many labels were lost and misplaced.
26 BAHAMAN TRIP
The entire collection is at Columbia with the exception of some of the dupli- cates. A set of the plants is in the University Herbarium in Bronx Park.
LIST OF STARFISHES*
DETERMINED BY JoHN I. NorTHROP
Linckia Guildingii Gr. Collected at Nassau and also on Andros.
Echinaster lentus? Nassau.
Ophiocoma echinata Ag. Common in pools and under stones at low water.
Ophiocoma pumila Liitken. Nassau. Twenty-one specimens. In one the upper arm-spines are flattened vertically, and the tip is indented or sometimes toothed. A few spines are much broader at base and prolonged backward in a point over the upper arm-plates, making them appear arrow-shaped.
Ophiocoma Riisei Liitken. One specimen from near Nassau.
Ophiura brevicauda Lyman. One specimen from near Nassau, under stones.
Ophiura cinerea Lyman. Nassau. The seventh joint of arm has ten spines instead of eight.
Ophiura appressa Say. Nassau. Four specimens.
Ophiomyxa flaccida Liitken. Nassau. Single specimen from near Quarantine Station.
Ophtothrix Cérstedii Liitken. One specimen. Lyman states that this is the most abundant species of Florida and the West Indies. It did not seem to be at all common in the Bahamas.
Ophiothrix Suensonii Liitken? Five specimens found on sponges in the sea-garden near Nassau, seem to have but three or four spines.
? Owing to their incompleteness the critical notes have been omitted.
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS! Joun I. NortHrop (Abstract)
By far the greater number of the islands known as the Bahamas are situated on the Great and the Little Bahama Banks. The former occupies a large area southeast of Florida and north of Cuba, and is penetrated in the northern part in a remarkable manner by a tongue of the ocean in which the water is over seven hundred fathoms in depth. Little Bahama Bank lies north of the Great one and is much smaller.
The islands lie, almost without exception, on the northern and eastern edges of the banks, the main exception being the island of Great Bahama, which is situated on the southern edge of Little Bahama Bank. Southeast of the Great Bank is a small one, on which are Crooked and Acklin islands, the former on the northern, the latter on the eastern edge.
The Caicos Bank lies still farther southeast and contains on its northern border a number of small islands. The rest of the group — viz. the islands of San Salvador, Rum Cay, Atwood’s Cay, Mariguana, and Little and Great Inagua — are differently situated from those pre- viously mentioned, rising almost abruptly from the deep ocean.
The time spent in the Bahamas was a little more than six months, two of which were passed in New Providence and the rest in Andros. The former is well known as the seat of government and as a health resort. It lies on the northern edge of a portion of the Great Bahama Bank, and is about twenty miles long and seven in width. A ridge runs along the northern side, the highest point of which is rog feet above sea-level, and is occupied by an old fort—Fort Fincastle. Here a fine view of the general features of the island may be obtained. To the south stretches a low level country dotted here and there with
1 Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sciences, October 13, 1890, pp. 4-22. 27
28 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
cocoanut groves, and in the distance is seen a lower ridge, known as the Blue Hills. To the north we look over the harbor, half a mile in width, to Hog Island, a cay about four miles long, perhaps half a mile wide, and about twenty feet high. The eastern end is separated by a narrow piece of water, known as the “Sea Garden,” from Athol or Long Island, locally known as Quarantine Station, a cay about two miles long and but a quarter mile wide, and continued eastward by narrow shoals. West of Hog Island is the channel, or, as it is called, “the bar,” on the other side of which a number of small cays continue the same general direction as the longer axis of the island. Seaward of Hog Island, and separated from it by about one mile of water, is Salt Cay, an island about two miles in length and a quarter in width. Far- ther to the north and outside of Quarantine Station is Rose Island, another long narrow cay. Outside of all lies the reef. These facts have been given with perhaps more detail than is interesting, but which, nevertheless, is necessary, as it has a bearing upon what follows.
Andros Island is the largest of the Bahama group, being over ninety miles long and between forty and fifty miles wide. The northern portion is separated from the southern by a broad shallow sheet of water that contains many cays, large and small, and the passages through from the eastern to the western coast are known as bights. It is interesting to note that Andros is not only the largest of the Ba- hama islands, but the largest coral island in the world, its northern half alone having a superficial area of over 1200 square miles, while the area of the whole island, so called, is over 1900. It lies near the eastern edge of the bank that faces the tongue of ocean referred to above.
The eastern side of Andros is occupied by a ridge, of which the highest point that I visited, and I think the highest on the island, is marked on the chart as Salvador Point, locally known as Bearing Point. Its height I had no means of determining, but I judged it to be about roo feet. At the extreme southern end, as at Grassy Creek, this ridge is absent and the land is low.
When one has crossed the ridge, which is covered with angiosper- mous trees, he enters a large forest of Pinus bahamensis which occu- pies the greater portion of the interior of the island. The land is here almost level, and in some places, as near Loggerhead Creek and Wide Opening, there are extensive lakes of fresh water. Upon passing
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 29
through the pines and reaching the west side, one comes to the most remarkable feature of the island. Here one sees spread out before him, as far as the eye can reach, a low swampy country covered with small mangroves; Conocarpus and Avicennia, bounded on one side by the water, and sometimes, in the distance, by a dark line of pines. The pines, however, frequently jut out in points that approach quite close to the water’s edge. This level swampy land is locally known by the very appropriate name of “swash.” To the west of the land stretches the Great Bahama Bank for a distance of from fifty to seventy miles, and the slope of the bottom is so exceedingly slight that at the distance of seventy miles from shore the water is but three or four fathoms deep. The bank then plunges suddenly into the ocean beyond.
There are many creeks on the island, and the water in all, at a distance of ten or fifteen miles from the mouth, is drinkable. Many little streams of fresh water flow into these creeks, thus partially drain- ing the immense area of swash.
The creeks are generally narrow and winding, and by wearing away the land on the convex side of the curves change the character of the surface of the country. This was most plainly seen up Cabbage Creek, near Wide Opening, on the west side. Here, as the creek wore its way into the land, it was followed on the concave side by a growth of small mangroves, while its convex side was fringed with palmettoes. As the creek, in winding, changed its course, the palmettoes and man- groves changed sides, as it were, the former always on the outside of the curve, thus making quite a striking alteration in the appearance of the landscape.
The surface on the western side of Andros is composed of an exceedingly fine, almost impalpable, calcareous coral “mud,” that also forms the bottom of the shallow water that covers the bank. As we go back from the water’s edge this deposit becomes harder and harder, until finally it is cemented into a hard, very fine-grained rock that is very different in appearance from the rock of the eastern coast. The latter is Zolian and varies in texture. In some places it is quite coarse and in others fine, but always composed of rounded grains of coral sand or comminuted shells. In some places, as at Conch Rock, near Conch Sound, the rock has been so altered as to resemble a dark gray crystalline limestone. In one place only did I see the contact between
30 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
the AZolian formation and the true coral rock. This was on Andros near the entrance to Fresh Creek, where a vertical face about ten feet in height was exposed. The lower four feet were composed of frag- ments of coral stems, mostly a madrepore, probably Madre porus cer- vicornus, but so eroded as to make identification impossible. Above this lay the Aolian rock, the contact being sharp and distinct, and the contrast between the laminated appearance of the one and the irregu- lar surface of the other being very striking. While no masses of corals were to be seen, that were undoubtedly standing as they grew, the fragments, some of them about a foot in length, were crowded to- gether and presented the same appearance as I had seen in places in the reef at Nicol’s Town, where the branches of M. cervicornus had been broken off and lay in a heap on the bottom. The striking con- trast between the olian rock above and that in which the corals were showed plainly that the two rocks were formed under different circumstances, and that the lower stratum had been formed under water, for it showed none of the characteristics of beach or wind-drifted deposits. Although this is the only place where.elevated corals were found in profusion, in many other localities, as at Nicol’s: Town and Mastic Point, Andros, a few fossil corals were found embedded in the rock and evidently in place. The most common coral thus found was a Mezandrina, probably the same as that now living on the shore near low-water mark —a circular, flat species.
In Nassau excellent sections of the rock can be seen in an old quarry, the “‘Queen’s Staircase,” and in the present quarry. In the first of these places the section is, I believe, ninety feet high, and the rock is entirely Aolian. The most common fossil is a species of Stro- phia that I suspect will prove different from those now living on the island.* A few helicoid shells were collected, and parts of a crab were noted, but only one or two marine shells, a Fissurella, and fragments of a lamellibranch were obtained. These facts all indicate the Aolian origin of the deposit.
? My thanks are due to Professor Dall, who has kindly examined my Strophias, and who is inclined to provisionally refer some of the fossil forms to S. maritima Pfr., and states that others seem to connect maritima with forms like Glans Kust., which I found living on Andros,
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 31
SURFACE DEPOSITS
There is practically no soil either on New Providence or Andros, except the little that collects in the caves and holes in the rock. From the caves a large quantity of cave earth has been taken and sold as a fertilizer, with what result I do not know. I was told that guano had been found on Andros, but I saw none. The earths I collected I have treated with hydrochloric acid, and the results indicate a great varia- tion in composition. In some, most of the material is soluble with strong effervescence, but in others the residual, I suspect, will prove greater than the soluble portion. The residue seems to be composed of organic material, with some mineral constituents that contain an appre- ciable quantity of iron. Dr. Waller, of the School of Mines, Columbia College, has kindly offered to analyze my material, and we hope from the results to draw some conclusions as to its origin. At present it seems as if the earthy deposits are composed of the insoluble portions of the coral rock mixed with vegetable particles.
The absence of any large quantity of fallen leaves is very noticeable. In the ‘“ Pine-yard,” as the pine woods are locally called, we did not
‘see a single fallen pine, but the depressions in the ground showed where one had formerly stood, and a long shallow trough plainly indi- cated where the fallen trunk had lain. Desiccation and decay take © place with astonishing rapidity, and I believe that the deposits found in the caves are greatly added to by the comminuted particles of dried vegetable matter, and the residue of the decomposed portions, both of which would be washed in by rain-water.
On the “swash” on the west coast of Andros a peculiar ash-like deposit was noticed that covered small circular areas. This, on exam- ination, proved to be composed of soft elastic lumps coated with cal- careous material. These lumps under the microscope were seen to be composed of one of the small, probably fresh-water, alge that had grown in the pools of water, and which had been left when the pools had dried.
EROSION
One of the most striking geological changes taking place in the Bahamas is the erosion of both the surface and the shore line of the islands.
32 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
West of Nassau, on the beach, are many places where the waves have cut narrow passages into the rocks and ground the fragments into sand. There are also a number of “pot-holes” ; these were circu- lar in horizontal sections, and the bottom and sides were smooth. They contained the worm coral heads that had evidently been the means of making the holes.
On the beach of the cays north of Nassau great blocks of coral rock are seen that have been dislodged by the waves, and in some places _ fresh fractures show where large fragments have been broken off. On the south side of the cays the erosion is different. Here the water is quiet and eats slowly under the rock, so that a projecting ledge is formed that marks the height of the tide.
At some places on Andros, as at Fresh Creek and Nicol’s Town, the shore is undermined, and great slabs in places have fallen, thus making large cracks. Similar cracks are found inland higher above high-water mark, and have evidently been formed in the same manner as those on the shore. Where the edges of the crack were in contact they had been firmly cemented together, and at intervals along the line of the crack were numerous large holes that had evidently been worn out by the action of rain-water running over the edge. Leading into these holes were channels almost as perfectly formed and rounded as a tin gutter.
The erosion of the surface will impress every one that visits the Bahamas. Sharp jagged points project so as to make walking tire- some and annoying. Although there is some sand near the beach west of the Barracks at Nassau, there are no great moving masses such as Heilprin describes as being found in Bermuda.*
In some places, as on Goat Cay, near Fresh Creek, Andros, the surface is eroded in a peculiar and striking manner. There the rock is worn so as to leave vertical cylindrical masses two or three feet high, some connected below or halfway up with each other, others separate. Their sides and tops are pitted and eroded, so they have evidently been affected by atmospheric agencies. On the ocean side of this cay the erosion from the action of the surf was so exceedingly rapid that the rock remained a light yellowish color instead of the dull or dark gray it commonly assumes. The form the rock here presented was even more striking than the cylindrical masses described above. It was
1«“The Bermuda Islands,” p. 31.
Goat Cay, Andros.
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 33
worn into innumerable peaks and pinnacles like a miniature mountain range, the points and edges of the pyramidal projections being sharp and clean. As we walked back from the edge of the cay, every grada- tion could be found between the miniature peaks and the cylindrical masses higher up. And I believe that the latter are what remains after the edges of the little peaks and pyramids have been slowly worn away by the action of atmospheric agencies; for we have only to round off the points and deepen the connecting ridges to produce the vertical cylindrical masses. But in order that this could have occurred, it will be necessary to suppose that the island has been elevated, and this, as I hope to show, I believe has been the case.
OUTLIERS
In many places near Andros, as at Mastic Point and Golden Cay, there are cays separated from the island by water but a few feet in depth, and in some places these cays make a prolongation of a point with which I believe they were formerly connected, and have been cut off, not by subsidence, but by erosion. There are other cays, as those near Nassau, that, as I hope to be able to show, owe their origin to another source.
CAVES
One of “the sights” at Nassau are “The Caves,” about seven miles west of the city. One of these is an irregular opening in the north side of a hill that faces the sea. The floor is considerably above high- water mark. In the back of the first chamber is asmall opening through which can be seen a deeper chamber, in the bottom of which is water. This chamber is said to connect with the cave on the opposite side of the same hill. This second cave is a long chamber about fifteen or twenty feet in height, and the roof contains holes through which the roots of trees pass and fasten into the floor below. The side wall of the cave for a distance of about four feet from the ground projected about six inches beyond the upper part of the wall, thus forming a shelf that was quite level and ran the entire length of the chamber, a distance of perhaps one hundred feet. I could only explain the formation of this shelf by supposing that it represented the contact between two depos- its, and that the upper had yielded more rapidly than the lower to ero-
sion.
34 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
On Andros I saw a number of caves near the northern part of the island. All were in the sides of the elevated portions. The openings in some, as one near Nicol’s Town, were small, barely as large as an ordinary door. Others were simply excavations in the side of the hills.
In some places, as near Nicol’s Town and Mastic Point, small caves were found, twenty to forty feet above high-water mark; and the low vertical cliffs in which they were, indicated the existence of an old shore line, for the rocks were undermined in the same manner as those we now see on the present shore. i
In some of these caves Indian relics have been found, and also human bones, and I obtained a portion of a human humerus from one on Andros.
OcEAN HOLES
Near the caves at Nicol’s Town was a hole known as the “ Ocean Hole.’ It was about one hundred feet in diameter and perhaps forty feet in depth, and contained a pool of brackish water. In one place the wall had been excavated so as to form a small cave, while the rest was quite steep and covered with trees and large blocks of coral rock. In one place was a very marked unconformability in the rock, the seeming strata below lying at an angle of about 30 degrees, while above the layers were horizontal. This was probably only an unusual arrangement of the Aolian formation; but in the Queen’s Staircase, where an unusually fine section is exposed, the layers lie at different angles, but are wedged in between each other, as it were, and no such sharp unconformability as that above described is to be seen.
The name “ocean hole” is also applied by the natives of Andros
to deep holes under the water. Some of these are remarkable. The first that I saw was near Mangrove Cay. Here, close to the shore, was a nearly circular hole at least 100 feet in diameter, and in which the water was said to be over 18 fathoms (104 feet) in depth. I did not have an opportunity of sounding it, but the dark btue color of the water told its own story. ; ‘
While sailing up Fresh Creek, Andros, we came to another ocean hole, which I examined. It was about ten miles from the mouth of the creek, close to thenorthern bank, and about one hundred feet in diam- eter. From the shore the water for a distance of about fifteen feet
Ocean Hole, Nicol’s Town.
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 35
was two feet in depth, and then suddenly deepened to eighteen feet over a projecting ledge. Sounding across the hole did not show a greater depth. The bottom of the hole was of soft coral mud. The bottom of the creek surrounding the hole was covered with about two feet of water, and in some places gradually sloped into the hole. Still farther up the creek another hole was seen, but was not examined. The most remarkable ocean hole that I saw was one near Grassy Creek, near the southern end of the east side of Andros. The diameter was about one hundred and fifty feet, and the shore itself formed one edge of the hole. The sides were of sand at its angle of repose for a depth of about six or seven feet below, and resting on an overhanging ledge of rock. Where the tide had fallen it left the hole surrounded by at least a quar- ter mile of sand flat on the ocean side, while, as stated above, the shore formed the rest of the boundary. This hole I sounded with all the line I possessed, but at twenty fathoms the weight was cut off, and I was unable to obtain another to continue the sounding. The captain of our boat, a reliable man, told me that in the ‘‘ Pine-yard” was a hole similar to this one, in which he had found no bottom with a line over thirty fathoms in length. Before attempting to explain the formation of these ocean holes it will be well to describe what the natives call
Bortinc Ho.Les
The first of these I was shown on Andros in a small creek that runs into Conch Sound. The top of the hole was about a foot under water at low tide, and close to the mangroves that formed the side of the creek. It was about seven feet in length and about two or three wide. Below the diameter increased, forming an overhanging ledge. When the tide * was low in the creek, but rising outside, the clear sea-water could be distinctly seen ascending, thus producing the same appearance as that presented by a mixture of sulphuric acid and water. Suspended particles could also be seen rising.
While sailing past Rat Cay, near Mastic Point, another “boiling hole” was seen that was apparently about ten feet in diameter, and from a distance we could see a perceptible “boil” on the surface that was undoubtedly caused by the rising water. Our captain said that when the tide was falling, the water in the hole went “down and round”? — which statement I believe, as the water was rising with some
36 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
force, and probably ran out again with sufficient rapidity to cause a small whirlpool. In another boiling hole near Mangrove Cay the water was seen ascending.
These facts prove not only that an underground connection exists be- tween these holes and the ocean, but that the connection is an open one, so that the water can flow freely through it, and thus the pressure result- ing from the passing tidal wave is shown before the tide commences to rise on the shore. The ocean holes, I believe, can be explained by supposing them to be old boiling holes in which the connection has been stopped up, and their greater size caused by the falling-in of the ledge on the edge, which would aid in the stoppage. I regret that I have no facts to offer on the depth of the boiling holes, for the only one I stopped to examine was at Conch Sound, and this one ran under the ledge, so that its depth could not be determined. The ocean hole at Nicols Town, described above, is also, I believe, an old ocean hole now elevated.
BANANA HOLES
These are holes found mainly on the elevated parts of the land on both New Providence and Andros. They contain a quantity of earth in the bottom, in which the natives plant their bananas, hence the name.
In shape and dimensions these holes vary greatly. Some are cylin- drical, about four feet in diameter, but at the same time twenty feet or more in depth. Others are from ten to twenty-five feet across, and some even larger, and often of an irregular shape and much longer than wide. \
The walls are often excavated below, so that the side becomes an overhanging ledge and forms a small cave. In some a cave begins at the side of the hole and runs backward. It is hence hard to draw the line between these holes and the caves. There are also holes that are not called banana holes, but which may be here described, as they dif- fer only in shape. In some the opening is barely large enough to allow aman topass. Onesuch I descended, and found that below it was over five feet in diameter and cylindrical. The top had been excavated so as to form a domed roof.
Other holes were connected by a horizontal passage through which I could crawl from one to the other. One of these I saw near Conch
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 37
Sound, where the passage ran from the bottom of one hole to the side of the other, which was much deeper.
Near by I saw two shallow holes that were connected by a horizon- tal passage, so that they resembled a large tube bent up at each end. It is not unusual to find openings in the ground, barely large enough to admit an ordinary pail, and sometimes much smaller. These are simply openings in the roof of a cave or hole of unknown dimensions, and frequently in the bottom is a quantity of fresh water that is used by the people.
The subject of banana holes has been briefly discussed by Dr. C. S. Dolley, who accounts for their formation by “the action of decaying vegetable matter, that undergoes fermentative changes by the products of which the soft calcareous rock is dissolved and leaches away.” There is no doubt that the rock is in many places eroded in this manner, as the small saucer-shaped depressions so common on the surface, and each often containing leaves and water, plainly testify. But I doubt if this agent alone would cause the deep vertical cylindri- cal holes, or those in which the sides recede into caves or the horizontal passages. And if the holes were formed in the manner described by Dr. Dolley, should we not find them in the low-level land as well as on the ridges? But, as stated before, the holes are found in far greater number on the ridges, and in places where the surface is such as to indicate that formerly the erosion from the waves was very great. If we could have a good view of the proper bottom of a banana hole, we might be able to account for their formation; but, unfortunately, the bottom is always filled with a deposit 9f earth or blocks of coral rock, and generally covered with tegetation.
It is not improbable that the deep cylindrical ones were formed in the same manner as pot-holes. And others might have originated in the same way as the spouting holes, where the waves undermine the shore and afterward break an opening in the rock above. Should some of the boiling holes, described above, become elevated and their bottoms filled up with fallen blocks of coral rock and deposits of earth, they would form banana holes. The holes in the cracks at Fresh Creek can be easily explained, but if all banana holes were formed in this manner, we should find them in a line with others, which I was told was the case, but I was never able to satisfy myself that it was so. The
1 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1889, p. 132.
38 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
caves are often the result of the former action of the sea, and some of them have probably been washed out by rain-water ; but in either case, should a portion of the roof fall in, it would make a banana hole if small, or, if large, an ocean hole like the one near Nicol’s Town. The horizontal passages are evidently washed out by water, but whether by the sea or rain-water, I do not know, but I believe either might have accomplished it. It is difficult to understand how underground chan- nels could be formed under water, yet the boiling holes prove that such exist; but there is no means of determining whether they were formed under the present circumstances or at some previous period when the land might have been elevated.
I was told that holes were as common under the water as they were on the land, but did not myself observe this to be the case; but then my opportunities for observation in this direction were limited. I infer from the facts I have given that banana holes and caves pass gradually into each other, and that they have been formed by the action of the sea-water and afterwards modified by the action of rain-water, aided by the products of the decomposing vegetable material and in some cases by the falling-in of the roofs of the caves.
EFFECTS OF VEGETATION ON THE SURFACE
One of the facts that I noticed shortly after my arrival in the Baha- mas was the occurrence of great numbers of blocks of coral rock scat- tered irregularly over the ground, and I first thought that they were the result of the excessive erosion that I saw taking place around me. But on some of the cays — as on Goat Cay, described above — where the erosion was most rapid, there were no loose blocks, and if these had been formed by erosion alone, it was there that we should have found them most numerous.
I had often noticed the gnarled and stunted appearance of the bushes and trees that grew near the shore, and where there was evi- dently a severe struggle between the sea on the one hand and the plants on the other.
At Quarantine Station I was shown a small bush, Rhacicallis rupestris, and was told that it was over twenty-two years old, by a man who said he could remember the plant as “long as he could remember anything.” I cut away the rock surrounding the bush, and found that
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 39
its roots proceeded downward a few inches through the solid rock. At the surface the trunk expanded so as to form a projecting mass that rested on the rock: The bush was only about eighteen inches in height and evidently stunted by lack of nourishment. I then pulled up a number of shrubs in the vicinity, and found that their roots ran under the hard crust that formed the surface of the rock. Further observa- tion showed that in many places the crust had been lifted and broken by the growth of the roots, and then trees were noticed with the base of their trunks surrounded by slabs of rocks that leaned against them. Finally, when the rock becomes eroded, the roots of trees penetrate the holes and crevices, and by their growth crack off large fragments that subsequent erosion forms into boulders. And these boulders are found most abundant where the trees are the largest, and hence where the action of their roots is most vigorous. Hence we may infer that these blocks are formed by erosion and the growth of the roots of the shrubs and trees.
While at Nassau I noticed on the shore in some places — as near Dix Point — vertical masses of rock that ran in an irregularly curving or straight line on the surface. The projections were sometimes about one foot high and two to four inches in width, and containing on their upper edge a number of holes, about half an inch in diameter, that were often shallow and sometimes mere pits, but quite regularly distributed in a single line. These little ridges could sometimes be traced for a distance of fifteen or twenty feet, and had evidently been left standing while the surrounding rock had been eroded. For a long time I was unable to explain their formation. Sometimes the ridges intersected and formed small or large triangles, as the case might be. When I visited the south side of New Providence, I saw growing in the water, in the calcareous mud that there forms the bottom, the black mangrove or salt bush (Avicennia nitida), and radiating from it, projecting about five or six inches above the ground, were small vertical shoots about three or four inches apart and looking very much like the teeth of a very long wooden rake. These shoots, I afterward found, come from the long sucker-like roots of the Avicennia and also of the button- wood (Conocar pus erectus). Water, on the west side of Andros, I found these plants growing near the water and also higher up on the beach, which here was a very fine calcareous deposit. This deposit had been slightly raised by the growth of the shoots,.and higher up on the shore,
40 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
where in contact with the shoots, it had hardened into rock. This, I believe, explains the ridges described above, for the roots are fre- quently a foot below the surface, and the action of fresh water follow- ing down the shoots, and probably, also, the action of the juices of the plant, have slightly dissolved the calcareous material and then cemented it into a rock harder than the surrounding deposit. The latter, when erosion commences, wears away and leaves the harder ridge standing. The manner in which the ridges are formed, and the holes in the tops of them, all strengthen this conclusion. The trian- gular spaces enclosed by the ridges are almost identical in appearance with the triangular spaces marked off by the sucker-like roots that cross each other in all directions.
RHIZOMORPHS
While visiting the quarry at Nassau my attention was drawn to some cylindrical masses of coral rock that apparently. hung root-like over the edges of the quarry and were about four feet in length. They were, however, cemented to the wall. I broke one off, and on examin- ing it, found that the particles of which it was composed were arranged in a concentric manner about a central axis. On the way back from the quarry I pulled up a small shrub, and found its roots penetrating the rock, which had been eroded so as to leave cylinders surrounding them. Dr. Dolley*has called attention to these cylindrical and tubu- lar forms, and has explained their formation by supposing that they represent the ‘ramifications of a now exterminated flora,” and also that “the juices of the roots, acting on the sand immediately surround- ing them, formed a compact layer. Through erosion and subsidence the vegetation was afterward exterminated, the looser particles of drift rock worn away, and the surface left covered by myriads of tubes of all sizes, formerly occupied by plant roots and rootlets.” Later, on Spruce Cay, near Nassau, and at many other places, I found a number of these cylindrical projections, some of which contained a small hole in the center, which in others was filled with calcareous material. I believe Dr. Dolley’s theory of the formation of these cylindrical and tubular projections is, in the main, the correct one; for I collected specimens with the roots still in them, and the concentric arrangement
1 Loc. cit., p. 131.
Spruce Cay, New Providence, showing Erosion.
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 41
shown on cross section shows very plainly that the solvent action of the water, following the path of the root, had been from within outward. As these masses are conspicuous and characteristic, I would suggest that they be called rhizomorphs ; and this name would also cover the tubular masses that have evidently been formed in the same manner, and which I have found in the ferruginous clays of New Jersey and elsewhere. The action of the water in the latter case has been on the iron contained in the clay. *
Dr. Dolley is inclined to think that the rhizomorphs were formed while the sand was in a loose state; and while I do not deny that this might be possible, I believe that all that I saw had been formed by the roots penetrating the already hardened rock; and I furthermore found no rhizomorphs being formed by the plants growing in the loose sand.
Dr. Dolley also states* that the “small islands exhibiting these peculiar formations [rhizomorphs] are indications, therefore, of erosion and subsidence.” I admit the erosion; but as the rhizomorphs are found twenty and thirty feet above the sea-level, I think that subsidence has taken no part in their formation.
These rhizomorphs are not to be confounded with the cylindrical masses described on Goat Cay, for the latter were vertical and did not exhibit the concentric arrangement of the particles so plainly shown in the rhizomorphs, which are found at all possible angles. And if we suppose the masses on Goat Cay to be due to the same process that formed the rhizomorphs, we must suppose that the roots that produced them grew vertically downward, which is extremely improbable. It may be well to state that a few rhizomorphs were found on Goat Cay, and the difference between them and the cylindrical masses was very marked.
It might be asked, if these rhizomorphs have been formed in the manner described, why is it that we do not find them everywhere on the islands? And in answer to this objection it may be said that roots of most of the trees spread out over the ground or slightly under the crust, but do not penetrate the rock; and that the roots of the smaller plants are those that have formed the rhizomorphs, and that these latter show only where there is but little vegetation, and where the erosion is active and not helped by the roots of trees breaking up the surface into blocks as described above.
1 Loc. cit., p. 132.
42 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
EVIDENCE OF SUBSIDENCE AND ELEVATION
The facts bearing on the question of subsidence and elevation have already been given, but it may be worth while to briefly review them and give my inferences.
The caves and old beaches now above the sea plainly show where the level of the water formerly was. The section at Fresh Creek proves, as do the other cases of elevated corals, that the island has been elevated. As the formation on top of the corals at Fresh Creek is Zolian, it follows that it could have been deposited only above water; and as the caves and old beaches are at least thirty feet above the sea- level and in the AZolian formation, they could not have been formed until the islands had subsided. Hence we are justified in assuming that atsome previous time in their history the islands were at about the same level as now. Then followed a period of subsidence of at least thirty feet, during which the caves and old shore-lines were formed. After this subsidence the islands were elevated to about their present position. It only remains to sum up the facts that bear on the question of the most recent movement in the Bahamas.
The fact that on the west coast of Andros, where the slope seaward is so exceedingly slight, the soft calcareous mud grows gradually harder and harder as we go inland, indicates to my mind that the island has been recently rising for if it were subsiding or had recently sub- sided, we may suppose that time enough would have elapsed since its elevation to allow the calcareous deposit to harden into rock, and then, as the subsidence took place, the surface at the edge of the water would be hard rock, which would finally probably extend under the water as the latter encroached on the land. The depth, close to the shore, of the fine calcareous deposit also points to elevation, for in it I ran a pole nine feet. How much deeper it was I had no means of determining, owing to the length of the pole. Now, had subsidence been taking place, should we find this depth of calcareous mud close to the shore? It is perhaps possible, and it might be claimed that the greater the sub- sidence, the greater would be the depth of the mud; but by the time that nine feet of sediment had been laid down it is reasonable to sup- pose that the mud on the shore would have hardened, and then should we not find the water washing against a rocky shore?
As we approach the west side of Andros from the interior, the pines
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 43
grow smaller and smaller, and the forest is often prolonged into points that run out in the swash and are composed of young and vigorous trees. There are also in the swash small and slightly elevated pieces of land barely above the level of the surrounding ground, and on these are growing young pines. These facts show that the pines are advanc- ing as fast as the conditions admit. Now, we may fairly suppose that within very recent geological times the atmospheric conditions were practically the same as now, and that the outward growth of the pines is limited by the elevation of the land from the influence of the salt water. Now, had the land once been as high as at present, it is fair to suppose that the pines would have taken possession of the places they now occupy; and if subsidence was in progress, they would now be being driven back from their vantage ground. And we may also sup- pose that before the change from elevation to subsidence had taken place, time enough to allow the pines to grow old would have elapsed; and hence were the island now sinking, or rather had it recently been sinking, we should expect to find on the western shore the pine forest with an array of old and dying trees facing the sea, and it would not be surprising if some dead pines were found standing in the water. None of these appearances are to be found.
The mangroves, too, point to elevation, for I find recorded in my note-books instances of mangroves, far above high-water mark, that were apparently dying, but none were seen in situations that indicated that the water was becoming too deep for them, as would probably be the case if the land had been recently sinking.
These facts have perhaps been treated with too much detail; but when I had been only to Nassau, and had seen the active erosion that was taking place, I was inclined to think that the islands were sinking, and was afterwards forced by the facts given above to alter my conclu- sion. That most of the cays are being worn away and reduced in size is evident. The vegetation is being driven backward, as indicated by the old and gnarled appearance of the bushes and by the rhizomorphs that remain where the plants once grew. Buton the west side of Andros the water is so shallow for a long distance seaward that there is practi- cally no erosion of the land by the waves. A little bank of coral sand and foraminifera raised slightly above the level of the swash is the only evidence of the action of the water.
44 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
FORMATION OF THE CAYS NORTH OF NEW PROVIDENCE
The position, size, and shape of these larger cays have already been noted. Before attempting to explain the manner in which I believe they were formed, I will briefly describe the appearance of the reef at Nicol’s Town, Andros, and also that at Rose Island, near Nassau.
At Nicol’s Town the reef was about a quarter of a mile from the shore, and the water varied from ten to eighteen feet in depth. The reef was almost entirely composed of the great Madrepora palmarum, with some small patches of M. cervicornus. Both of these corals were growing luxuriantly, and their tips were close to the surface of the receding waves. The reef at Rose Island, however, contained very few specimens of M. palmarum, but many of M. cervicornus, and also large heads of what are popularly known as “brain corals,” but which of the genera so designated I am unable to state. ‘The receding waves left the top of the reef bare, and exposed the sea fans and alcyonoid corals that were growing on the top. Toward the shore the reef sloped gradually downward into a bank of sand, or, in other words, the sandy bottom sloped upward to the top of the reef, which thus presented a very different appearance from the one at Nicol’s Town, where the corals rose from the bottom. These facts show, I think, that the Rose Island reef is an old one, while the Nicol’s Town reef is in what we may callits prime. A study of the chart of New Providence shows, running along its northern shore, a number of reefs, some of which are marked nearly dry at low water. Now, in order to convert these reefs into land it is only necessary that they should be slightly elevated or that sand should be deposited on top of them. And this, I believe, is the way in which the cays known as Hog Island, Rose Island, Salt Cay, and Quarantine Cay have been formed. In other words, I believe they have been formed in the same manner as L. Agassiz explained the formation of the cays of southeastern Florida. He argues, however, that as the cays nearest the land, and hence those first formed, are no higher than those farther seaward, it follows that during their formation the land was stationary. Professor Heilprin,’ on the other hand, has proved that the Florida peninsula is, or has lately been, rising. I think I have shown that the Bahamas, or at least the islands of New
' Trans. Wagner Free Inst. Sci., Vol. I.
NOTES. ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 45
Providence and Andros, have very recently been rising; and yet, although I have no measurements, I venture to state that Salt Cay, the most seaward one, is as high if not higher than Hog Island, that lies inside of it.
To return to Florida. It would seem at first as if the conclusions of Professor Heilprin precluded the possibility of the cays being formed as suggested by Agassiz; for if we suppose a cay to be formed while the land is rising, and then that another forms to seaward, and this process to continue until three or four cays were formed one outside of the other, it seems as if the first one would be higher above the level of the sea than the last, and this Agassiz‘ states is not the case. When I first read Agassiz’s memoir I was much impressed with the strength of his arguments. But Heilprin’s in regard to elevation are conclusive; and although he did not visit the lower part of the peninsula, it is probable that its movement is in the same direction as that portion examined.
It will, however, be noticed that Agassiz lays no stress on the effects of the erosion that takes place so rapidly on all islands of coral forma- tion.
I believe that the views of these two eminent observers can be brought into harmony by considering the effects of erosion. Let us. suppose a cay has been formed of calcareous material thrown up by the waves to a height of fifteen or twenty feet. Then, while the cay to seaward was being formed, the erosion would take place on the one already made, and whether its height above the sea increased, remained constant, or decreased would depend upon the relative effects of the elevation and erosion. It is not improbable that these two forces might balance each other; and if this were so, it is easy to show diagrammati- cally that any number of cays could form, one after the other, to sea- ward, and yet the first be no higher than the last above the level of the sea. And this argument also applies to the cays near Nassau. It is probable that the ocean would throw up some of the cays higher than the others, and also that a slight difference in height would not be observed by the unaided eye.
1“ Report on Florida Reefs,” Mem. Mus. Comp. Zodl., Vol. VII, No. 1, p. 36+
46 NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS
THE FORMATION OF THE BAHAMAS
As previously stated, the islands lie on the eastern and northern edges of the Great and Little Bahama Banks. The only exceptions are Great Bahama Island, the Biminis, and some others that are exceedingly small.
As I have visited only New Providence and Andros, I hesitate to do more than suggest that the other islands of the banks have been formed by the action of the waves and wind in the same manner as the cays near Nassau.
A visit to the other islands of the group would be well repaid, for some of them, as San Salvador, Rum Cay, and Inagua, have appar- ently been formed in a different manner from those on the Great Bank. And it is interesting to note that Dr. Bryant* describes Inagua as a raised atoll. And Crooked Island and Acklin together resemble in a remarkable manner the shape of the Keeling Atoll.? Should these be proved portions of an elevated atoll, it would be interesting, as they would be only exceeded in size by the atolls of the Maldiva Archipelago, which are the largest known.’ The islands of the Caicos Bank also resemble the form of an old atoll, and the bank is still larger than that on which Crooked and Acklin islands are situated.
In conclusion, it is interesting to note that Darwin and Professor Dana, although they never visited the Bahamas, have, from a study of the charts, come to diametrically opposite conclusions in regard to the evidence they present of elevation or subsidence. Professor Dana states* that “the Bahamas show by their form and position that they cover a submerged land of large area,” and that “the long line of reefs and the Florida cays trending away from the land of southern Florida are evidence that this Florida region participated, though to a less extent than the Bahamas. ... Thus the size of the islands, as well as the existence of coral banks and also the blankness of the ocean beyond, all appear to bear evidence to a great subsidence.”
Darwin, on the contrary, says:° proofs of elevation within recent Tertiary periods abound over nearly the whole area of the West
* Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. XI, 1866, p. 63. ? Darwin, ‘Coral Reefs,” 3d ed., Pl. I, Fig. ro. * Dana, “Corals and Coral Islands,” p. 190.
‘Corals and Coral Islands,” p. 368. 5 “Coral Reefs,” 3d ed., p. 268.
NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS 47
Indies, and hence it is easy to understand “the origin of the Great Bahama Banks, which are bordered on their southerh and western edges’ by singularly shaped islands formed of sand, shells, and coral rock, some of them about 100 feet in height, is easily explained by the elevation of banks fringed on their windward side by reefs.”
I think the facts I have given justify my conclusion in regard to the recent elevation of Andros and New Providence. It is probable that the elevation extended over the rest of the Bahamas, as caves exist on the other islands. What the Bahamas are doing to-day, of course, we cannot tell; but until we have proof to the contrary, we may assume that they are rising.
1J have quoted this as given by Darwin. It is evidently a slip of the pen, as the islands are on the eastern and northern edges of the banks. :
BAHAMAN BIRDS By Joun I. NorTHRop
(Abstract of address before the N. Y. Academy of Science)
AFTER a few preliminary remarks upon the situation and size of the Bahamas, the speaker stated that a paper giving the details of the collection of birds would appear in the Auk for January. He stated that all the species, seventy-four in number, were represented by the specimens on the table, but that he would only call attention to the most interesting.
The following birds were then exhibited and remarked upon: Mimocichla plumbea, Mimus polyglottos, Mimus Gundlachi, Poliop- tila cerulea cesiogaster, Seiurus aurocapillus, Geothlypis rostrata (a local form, slightly differing from the typical species found on New Providence), Callichelidon cyaneoviridis, Doricha evelyne, S poradinus ricordi, Chordeiles minor, Icturus northropi (a new species of a genus not before reported from the Bahamas, and which has been described and named by Dr. J. A. Allen), Coccyzus minor Maynardi, Saurothera bahamensis, Phenicopterus ruber (the habits and mode of capture being described), Nycticorax nycticorax nevius (new to the Baha- mas), Rallus coryi, Ardea bahamensis, and several other water birds.
The speaker also mentioned finding in the stomach of Antrostomus carolinensis an entire humming-bird sufficiently undigested to identify as Sporadinus ricordi.
He stated that the only mammals on Andros were bats, rats, and mice. The bat was Macrotus waterhousei, and the rat Mus rattus. The skin of the iguana, Cychera beolopha, was exhibited, and the method of capture described. A few lizards were also shown, eight or nine species having been collected. The speaker had collected a number of species of snakes, the largest of which, a species of boa- constrictor, was exhibited.
48
BAHAMAN BIRDS 49
He briefly mentioned the large collection of invertebrates, and stated that, for the most part, it had not yet been worked up. One of the Anemones, however, is probably new. In this connection the speaker called attention to the interest connected with the geographi- cal distribution of the Actiniaria, as Professor McMurrich considered them to be related to Pacific forms.
In conclusion, Dr. Northrop mentioned the collection of plants, comprising about seven thousand specimens, and representing about six hundred to seven hundred species. These, he stated, were being worked up by Mrs. Northrop, and twenty or thirty of the species were in all probability new.
The plants, as well as the birds, are decidedly Antillean in char- acter and affinities.
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS*
By Joun I. NorTHROP
Tue island of Andros is the largest of the Bahama group, being about ninety miles long, and forty or fifty miles across at the widest part. The southern portion is separated from the northern by shallow waters called “bights” ; but these are so filled with cays, as to make it convenient to include all the islands under the general name of Andros.
Like all the others of the group, Andros is entirely of coral forma- tion. The country is described by the natives as either “coppet,” “‘pine-yard,” or “swash.” The first term is applied to the thicket of angiospermous trees and shrubs that occupies the ridge along the eastern coast. In most places this belt is very narrow, but near the southern end it extends several miles into the interior. Back of the coppet the land is comparatively level, and is covered by a forest of the Bahama pine (Pinus bahamensis). As one approaches the west coast, the pines become smaller and are mingled with palmettoes; finally both cease, and one sees spread before him thousands of acres of level plain, supporting scarcely any vegetation except countless dwarf mangroves. Here the ground is soft, and in wet weather almost en- tirely under water; hence the peculiar appropriateness of the local term “swash.” Such is a brief description of the physical features of Andros. As might naturally be supposed, the coppet proved the best collecting ground for land birds, while the swash, and the lakes it contained, were well stocked with many aquatic species.
Although Andros is the largest of the Bahama Islands, it seems never to have been thoroughly explored by naturalists. The first record of Bahama birds is given by Catesby? who visited Andros. In 1859 and again in 1866 Dr. Bryant made a collecting trip through the Bahamas and published the results in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. His two papers are devoted to
' The Auk, Vol. VIII, No. 1, January, 1891, pp. 64-80. ? Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands.
5°
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THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS 51
ornithology and contain several references to Andros. Mr. C. J. Maynard, in 1884, spent some time on Andros and has published a few notes on its birds and described some new species.!. Mr. Cory also made an ornithological trip through the Bahamas, during which he visited the eastern coast of Andros. The results of his work are pub- lished in a well-illustrated volume entitled the “Birds of the Bahama Islands.” Mr. Ingraham has also visited Andros, but I have been unable to find any notes by him on its avifauna. These, I believe, are the only naturalists who have ever honored Andros with a visit.
As this island is separated from both Florida and Cuba by nearly the same distance (about one hundred and twenty miles), the writer thought that a collection of its birds might prove interesting. It may, however, be well to state that the object of the visit to Andros was not to make a collection of birds, and that lack of time and assistance pre- vented us from obtaining larger series. Before going to Andros, some time was spent on the island of New-Providence, the western end of which is about twenty-five miles from the nearest point of Andros. There a few birds were collected, and these will be referred to in the | list that follows. I was accompanied during the trip by Mrs. Northrop, who made notes on the occurrence of the birds, and more particularly on their songs and habits; and many thanks are due her for aid in the preparation of this paper. ;
We reached the northern part of Andros on March 14, 1890, and left the southern end on the 3d of July, during that time sailing almost completely around the island; exploring the majority of the creeks on both the east and west coasts, and passing through the bights in the central part. But the greater portion of the time was spent in the vari- ous negro settlements that were scattered along the eastern coast, hence we had ample opportunities for observation, and for obtaining what is probably a quite complete collection of the birds of the island.
Dr. Allen has kindly annotated the list, and thanks are due to him and to his assistant, Mr. Chapman, for aid in determining several of the species.
The collection includes 286 specimens; and in it are represented 12 orders, 27 families, 56 genera, and 74 species. Of these one, that Dr. Allen has done us the honor to name Icterus northropi, is new to science; and Nycticorax nycticorax nevius is new to the Bahamas,
1 American Exchange and Mart and Household Journal, Vol. III. /
52 THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS
while Geothlypis rostrata has hitherto been found only on New Provi- dence.
Unless otherwise stated, all the birds mentioned in this paper were actually obtained, and are now in the Museum of the School of Mines, Columbia College. I have added to the usual common names the local names of the birds.
i. Mimocichla plumbea Linn. Blue Thrasher. —This Thrush was com- mon in the high coppet near Deep Creek, not far from the southeastern ex- tremity of the island. Two specimens were also obtained near the northern end, but none were seen in the pines or in the swash on the west side. The bird hops about on the ground or on the lower branches of the trees, its black throat and red legs rendering it quite conspicuous. The stomach of one examined contained fruits. Those shot on June 28 were in condition to breed.
*2, Galeoscoptes carolinensis Linn. Catbird.—The Catbird was very common at Nicol’s Town near the northern end of Andros during March and April, and the last specimen was seen at Mastic Point about May 23.
3. Mimus polyglottos Linn. — Locally known as Brown Thrasher and Mock- ing-bird. My specimens were all collected near the northern end of Andros, the first on March 25, the last on April 16. They were quite common about our house at Nicol’s Town, and their song could be heard at almost any hour of the day. It was loud and varied, each syllable being usually repeated three times. While on the western coast in June, we noticed one of these Mocking-birds, perched on the top of a palmetto. He was singing, apparently with all his heart, and at- tracted our attention by springing up into the air a few feet, then dropping to his perch again. This he repeated three times, singing all the while ; we after- wards saw another bird go through the same performance.
The stomachs of the specimens examined contained the remains of the fruit of the gum elemi (Bursera gummifera), white ants, and pieces of snail shells.
[The three specimens referred to this species are indistinguishable from M. polyglottos of the Carolinas or Florida. They are hence very unlike the small form of Mimus from Inagua, recognized by Mr. Sharpe as M. elegans. J. A. A.J
4. Mimus gundlachi Caban.—This was more common than the species above described, as we found it wherever we landed. Its song is louder, clearer, and more varied than that of M. polyglottos. Its food consists of fruits of various kinds, but in the stomach of one specimen some small bones were found, probably those of an Amolus. The ovaries of a specimen shot on May 15 were much en- larged. The inhabitants of Andros do not distinguish between these two species, calling both either Brown Thrushes or Mocking-birds.
* The star prefixed to a number indicates that the species was observed by Mr. Scott at the Dry Tortugas. See note on page 87.
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS | 53
[The series of seven specimens presents a wide range of variation in both size and color. In the largest specimen the wing measures 4.73 inches, the tail 5.33; n the smallest specimen .the wing measures 4.23, the tail 4.60. In one specimen the cheeks, sides of the throat, and the lower throat are thickly and heavily spotted, and the streaks on the flanks are very broad. In another the cheeks and sides of the throat are scantily barred, and the lower throat is without spots. The other specimens are variously intermediate between these. The difference in size may be in part sexual. — J. A. A.]
5. Polioptila cerulea czsiogaster Ridgw. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. — This species was very common in the low shrubs that grew in the pine-yard. It was a most confiding little bird, and would sit within a few feet of you, twitching its head from side to side and uttering its low, wheezy little song, apparently very well pleased with its own efforts.
*6. Compsothlypis americana Linn. Parula Warbler. —This Warbler was collected in the northern part of Andros on March 26 and April 19. It was only seen in two localities, and was not common.
*7, Mniotilta varia Linn. Black-and-white Warbler. — First seen at Nicol’s Town on March 17. In a week or two they became quite numerous about the house, but none were seen after the end of April. The three specimens pro- cured were all males. Their stomachs contained the remains of beetles.
*8. Dendroica tigrina Gmel. Cape May Warbler. — This species was not - common. Specimens were collected on March 22, and on April 20, two on the northeast coast, one near the west side.
9. Dendroica petechia Linn. Antillean Yellow Warbler. But a single specimen, a female, was obtained near Mangrove Cay on June 24.
*10, Dendroica czrulescens Gmel. Black-throated Blue Warbler. — One specimen was brought to us in Nicol’s Town, April 11; others were collected on April 19 at Red Bay on the northwestern end of Andros. They were quite com- mon about the house for a few days, but none were seen after the above date.
*r1, Dendroica striata Forst. Blackpoll Warbler.—The specimens were all obtained at Conch Sound on May 1g and 20, although it was seen a little far- ther south on May 23, and even a day or two later.
12. Dendroica vigorsii Aud. Pine Warbler.—This bird was one of the most common species in the pine-yard. The five specimens collected all proved to be females. The stomachs of those examined contained insects and small fruits.
13. Dendroica discolor Vieill. Prairie Warbler. — This was by far the most common of the migratory Warblers. It was collected on the northern end of Andros from March 22 to April 12, and a few were seen during the latter part of April.
*z4, Dendroica palmarum Gmel. Palm Warbler. A single specimen, a female, was shot at Mastic Point, May 2; it was hopping about on the ground under the small mangroves.
*ry, Seiurus aurocapillus Linn. Ovenbird. —This species was collected in several localities on the northern end of the island. At Red Bay on the west side it was quite common, and the natives knew the bird well under the name of the
54. THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS
“ground walker.” All whom we questioned on the subject were certain that the bird remained throughout the year, and some said that they had seen its nest.? A specimen was collected by the writer on New Providence during January, and the last time that we observed it was in the first week of May. The stomachs of those examined contained the remains of insects.
[Four specimens taken on Andros Island, near the end of April, probably represent a local resident form, differing slightly from the North American stock in having the bill rather larger, the crown patch deeper orange, and the black lines bordering it and the black streaks below slightly heavier. Should these dif- ferences prove tolerably constant, they are too slight to render it desirable to des- ignate the form in nomenclature. — J. A. A.]
16. Geothlypis rostrata Bryant. Nassau Yellowthroat.— This species is new to the island, all the specimens previously known being from the neighboring island of New Providence. The first we saw was brought to us by a boy at Nicol’s Town, March 21. It was afterwards seen at Red Bays, Conch Sound, and later at Mangrove Cay on June 25. It frequents the thick underbrush of the coppet, and was always seen quite close to the ground. G. érichas was also collected, but the difference between the two birds was very noticeable, G. rostrata being consid- erably larger and much lighter in color. Its song was also louder and sweeter.
(The single specimen, male, is nearer G. rostrata than any other of the de- scribed forms, differing from it in its much shorter and slenderer bill, with the crown of a deeper and more bluish gray. Mr. Ridgway, who has examined the specimen, says: ‘Intermediate between type of G. rostrata and G. tanneri , bill entirely like the latter; color above brighter olive-green than in either.” While doubtless representing a well-marked local race, it seems hardly worth while to give it a name on the basis of a single specimen. — J. A. A.]
*17. Geothlypis trichas Linn. Maryland Yellowthroat.— This species was seen on both the east and the west side of Andros from April 12 to 19, but there is no note of its appearance later. Of the five specimens collected, four were males. It is interesting to note that Dr. Bryant states that of a flock of birds flying past his vessel in the harbor of Grassy Creek, in the southern part of the island, on April 20, 1859, all were males.
*18, Setophaga ruticilla Linn. American Redstart. —This Warbler was first seen at Nicol’s Town on April 10, and the last specimen was taken May 20; one was seen a month later, however, on the west coast.
Since this paper was written an interesting article by Mr. W. E. D. Scott has appeared in the Auk,’ on the “Birds observed at the Dry Tortugas, Florida, during Parts of March and April.” As I was collecting on Andros during the same time, I thought it would be interesting to note the species common to both places and have hence prefixed an asterisk to those mentioned in Mr. Scott’s paper. A reference to his paper will show that he secured many Warblers that I did not, and a comparison of his dates with mine shows that with the exception of Mniotilta
Cory states that it is migratory. — ‘Birds of Bahamas,” p. 71. 2Vol. VII, p. 301.
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS _ 55
varia, Dendroica tigrina, D. caerulescens, and Geothlypis trichas, the birds were observed later in Andros than at the Dry Tortugas. The commonest Warbler at the latter place was D. palmarum, of which I only secured one specimen, and no more were seen, while D. discolor, the commonest Warbler in Andros, was ‘not uncommon” with Mr. Scott. I doubt, however, if any inference of importance can be drawn from these facts.
In regard to the occurrence of the Warblers above mentioned it may be worth while to state that they appeared in “waves.” The most noticeable of these was on April 18. We had been at Red Bays on the west side for a week, and had seen very few birds about, but a bird wave must have arrived during the night of the 18th, for the next day the grove about the house was full of birds, — the Black- throated Blue, the Blue Yellow-back, the Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, and Vireo altiloquus barbatulus were seen here for the first time, and in considerable numbers.
19. Coereba bahamensis Reich. Bahama Honey-creeper. ‘‘Banana Bird.” — Common throughout the island except in the swashes. The state of the genera- tive organs of those taken near the end of March indicated that the birds were nearly ready to breed. ,
*20. Callichelidon cyaneoviridis Bryant. Bahama Swallow. — This beauti- ful Swallow was first seen on New Providence and was afterwards found to be abundant on Andros, particularly in the clearings. They generally flew quite close to the ground. Dr. Bryant in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. VII, page 111, says that of those collected by him up to April 28, the genital organs exhibited no appearance of excitement. On April 15 I collected a male with the testes much enlarged. The people told me that the Swallow breeds on the island, building under the rocky ledges, but we were not fortunate enough to find a nest.
a1. Vireo crassirostris Bryant. Large-billed Vireo. —Common at most places on the island, and its cheery little song was almost constantly heard from the bushes and low trees that the bird frequents. On May 24 the generative organs of the male were enlarged.
(The four specimens seem distinctly referable to V. crassirostris. —J. A. A.]
*22, Vireo altiloquus barbatulus Cab. Black-whiskered Vireo. —The first specimen of this bird was seen at Red Bays on the western side of the island, about April 18. On our return to the east coast we found it common, and later noted it as quite abundant at all our stopping places; and its song, so well described by Dr. Bryant as “whip Tom Kelly, phew,” was one of the most common notes of the coppet. Dr. Bryant says that the seven specimens collected by him were all males, and thinks that the females “‘had not arrived by the 13th of May.” As I collected the first female on May 24, having previously shot two males, this sur- mise is probably correct. The genital organs were noted as being enlarged from May to to June 5, when the last specimen was shot. Some of the birds were mated and apparently ready to breed.
23. Spindalis zena Linn. —This bird, called by the natives “Tom James’ Bird” and “Robin Redbreast,’’ was very common in the coppet and the pines. It
56 THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS
is one of the most conspicuous birds of the island, as well as one of the tamest, being quite often caught by the children. They seemed to be particularly fond of the fruit of the gum elemi (Bursera gummifera) and of the ripe figs. About May 20 the genital organs were enlarged.
*24. Piranga rubra Linn. Summer Tanager. — A single specimen, a male, was taken at Red Bays, April 19. We showed it to some of the natives, but they had never seen any like it. As its color would render it conspicuous, we may infer that it was not a regular visitor, but, as stated by Cory in his “Birds of the West Indies,” p. 85, is only accidental in the Bahamas.
25. Loxigilla violacea Linn. Violet Grosbeak.— Known by the natives as the “Spanish Paroquet,” and quite abundant both in the coppet and the pines. The males vary much in color, some being a brilliant black, while others are only dusky; this difference is more apparent in living than in dead specimens. Both sexes also vary in size. Some of these birds were brought to us alive by the negro children, and I soon learned by experience that they not only were pugnacious but could inflict quite a painful bite with their strong beaks. The generative organs of a male collected May 30 were considerably enlarged.
26. Euetheia bicolor Linn. Grassquit.— Very common both in the pine- yard and in the coppet, and the most abundant species of land bird on the island. They were very tame and allowed one to approach within a few feet, and while we were at Nicol’s Town, several of them flew through the house at various times. They seemed to vary a great deal, some of the males having the head and breast black, while others were much lighter with only the throat and chin black, more like the average female; in these the under mandibles were also much lighter. They seemed to have mated even in April, as they were usually seen hopping about in pairs.
27. Icterus northropi Allen. Northrop’s Oriole. — (See PI. I.) Desctplion , and notes of this bird were published in the Auk (Vol. VII, p. 343, October, 1890).
28. Agelaius phceniceus bryanti Ridgw. Bahaman Red-winged Blackbird. — This bird was found generally distributed over the island, and was the presiding genius of its creeks and swashes. On the west coast especially his flute-like “‘okra- Jee” was the most familiar note. The birds were usually in small flocks, but there always seemed to be a great preponderance of males. Beyond doubt, however, the latter knew that their plainly dressed mates were near, much oftener than we, for a number of times we saw one half raise his wings so as to expose his brilliant epaulets, and sing with all his heart, fluttering his wings at every note. On two occasions while visiting a large mangrove near Mastic Point, we remained until after sunset and watched the Redwings fly out to roost there. The mangrove, about two miles from the shore, was very large, and accommodated hundreds of feathered guests nightly. There were Man-o’-war Birds, White-headed Pigeons, and Louisiana Herens, but the most numerous as well as the noisiest lodgers were the Red-winged Blackbirds. They began to arrive about five o’clock, flying in from the mainland by twos and threes, or sometimes singly, until at last the por- tion of the mangrove that they occupied was seemingly alive with them. ‘There
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS _ 57
must have been several hundred, males, females, and young, and they kept up a constant ‘chorus of hoarse chirps, screams, and gurgling “okralees” until quite a while after the sun had set.
29. Pitangus bahamensis Bryant. Bahama Kingbird. “Fighter.” — Not uncommon in many parts of the island. I have nothing to add to Dr. Bryant’s account of its habits, except that in the stomach of one some fruits of the gum elemi were found, showing that its diet was not entirely insectivorous.
30. Blacicus bahamensis Bryant. Bahaman Wood Pewee. —This small species, of which Dr. Bryant says he only saw three specimens, all in the month of March, we found common on the island, not only in the coppet, but also in the pine- yard, and even occasionally in the swashes. At one of our stopping places two or three were always to be seen flying about near the house. They were very fear- less, and several times flew so close as to touch us. One seemed to be particularly tame and would fly in at the door or window or about our heads with perfect un- concern. He had several favorite perches about the house, on one or another of which he was to be found at any time of day, cocking his little head from side to side, in wait for unwary flies.
31. Myiarchis lucaysiensis Bryant. Rufous-tailed Flycatcher. — Not as abun- dant as the preceding species, but quite often noted, especially in the northern part of the island. Seven specimens were collected, all of which were males.
[The series of seven specimens agrees with one of Bryant’s original specimens in the Lawrence Collection at the American Museum of Natural History, and differs from a small series of M. sagr@ in being much larger, with the bill narrower, and in lacking the strong yellow suffusion of the lower abdomen, crissum, and axillaries, which in M. lucaysiensis are either nearly pure white or only faintly tinged with pale yellow. It is apparently a strongly marked form. — J. A. A.]
*32,. Tyrannus dominicensis Gmel. Gray Kingbird. ‘“ Fighter.” — Quite com- mon on the island, but most abundant near the coast. On May 31 we found a nest of this species in a small mangrove between tide marks. We had often seen similar nests before, but could not be certain what bird had made them. The
‘nest was composed of small sticks rather compactly arranged. It was about nine inches in diameter and four or five inches in depth. In the center was the cup, about three inches in diameter and two or three deep, very neatly lined with a fiber from some palm, probably from the spathe of the cocoanut palm. While exam- ining the nest, the old birds flew from the shore and swooped over us, much agitated. There were no eggs. On June rg another nest was found in a man- grove on the west side of the island. This time I shot both birds and secured the nest and the one egg it contained. The latter was ovate in shape, 1.94 inches long, and .7o wide; white with a few small brownish and lavender spots and blotches, mostly near the larger end. It is stated that in Jamaica the nest of this bird ‘‘is seldom found in any other tree than that of the palm kind.” * In Florida, however, it builds in the same situations as in the Bahamas. We found it a rather
1 Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. VII, p. 108. 2 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, ‘‘North American Birds,” Vol. II, p. 322.
58 THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS
quiet bird, although it has been described as noisy. Once we saw it attack a Buz- zard, and persistently drive it away.
33. Chordeiles minor Cab. Cuban Nighthawk. — Quite abundant; some- times a dozen or more were seen flying about in the dusk. It is called “‘ Pira- midig” by the natives, on account of its cry, which to us, however, sounded more like ‘‘ Pir-ra-me-quick-quick.”’ Those procured were shot in the daytime, on the western side of Andros, on June 17. They were sitting motionless on the hot dry plain, and did not fly until we were within a very few feet of them. Even when disturbed they would alight again very shortly, and crouch close to the ground as before.
*34. Antrostomus carolinensis Gmel. Chuck-will’s-widow. — Three speci- mens were taken, two of which were disturbed in the woods during the daytime, and the other shot at dusk. Upon examining the stomach of the first one I shot, I found, amid an indistinguishable mass of brownish matter, a small bone, about half an inch long, that looked like the leg of a small bird. The next one examined contained in its stomach the partially digested remains of an entire Humming-bird, enough of which was preserved to identify it beyond doubt as Sporadinus ricordi. “The remains of a small bird are said to have been found within the stomach of one of this species.” ' One collected on May 15 contained remains of beetles and winged ants in its stomach. The testes were much enlarged, being about half an inch in length, but I am not sure that the bird breeds on the island.
35. Doricha evelyne Bourc. Bahama Woodstar. — Well distributed over both New Providence and Andros, and as common in the pines as in the coppet. They are both pugnacious and curious, for one day we watched one chase a Den- droica discolor off a tree, and follow it some little distance, and while walking through the woods one of these birds would often alight close by or hover over our heads, as if examining us, and they flew through the house a number of times. They seemed to alight on the branches quite as frequently as other birds, and we often watched them perch and preen their feathers. Their little silvery trill was a quite common note in the pines, and for a while we thought it the song of some bird in the distance until we caught sight of the tiny songster almost above our heads. They do not always confine their attention to flowers, for one day a Dori- cha, after fluttering about the basket of flowers in my hand, made a dart at a good- sized spider in a web close by, and to our surprise demolished it and was off again in a moment. Of the numbers that we saw at New Providence, none were adult males, and of those collected on Andros there was a large preponderance of females.
On one occasion we had the good fortune to see a male who was evidently dis- playing his charms. The female was perched on a branch of a low shrub and before her the male was performing. His wings were vibrating rapidly in the usual manner, and thus supported in the air he swung rapidly to and fro, at the same time rising and falling, a movement very difficult to describe, but almost exactly like that of a ball suspended by an elastic thread that stretches and con- tracts as the ball swings back and forth. This exceedingly graceful movement
* Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, “North American Birds,” Vol. II, p. 413.
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS _ 59
was executed through a small arc for a few minutes, and then was suddenly changed. The male expanded his tail, showing the cinnamon of the webs, and then threw himself rapidly and violently from side to side in an almost hori- zontal line. During this latter part of the display a rustling sound was produced, probably by the vibrations of the wings, and a few short sharp notes were uttered. He then darted suddenly at the female who all the while had been sit- ting apparently unconcerned, seemed almost to touch her with his bill, and then flew rapidly away. Shortly afterward the female left, flying in another direction. During all of the display the two birds were facing each other and not more than six or eight inches apart, and the gorget and tail of the male were exposed to their fullest advantage.
36. Sporadinus ricordi Gerv. Ricord’s Humming-bird. — This was abundant on Andros, where all my specimens were obtained, none being seen on New Providence. Curiously enough, in this species, there seemed to be a great prepon- derance of males, and out of the seven specimens collected, but one proved to be a female. It may safely be said that most of those we saw were males, as the females are quite different, being smaller and lacking the beautiful blue green gorget. The ovaries of the bird collected May 16 were not enlarged. It is prob- able that both Doricha evelyne and Sporadinus ricord: breed on the island; that one of them certainly does was evidenced by a nest that I was shown. It was lined with cotton, and was evidently the nest of a Humming-bird.
37. Crotophaga ani Linn. Ani. Rain Crow. — Frequently seen on both New Providence and Andros, and always in small flocks of three or more. They were not as tame as most of the land birds, being on the contrary quite shy, and it was a difficult matter to get very close to them, as one of the flock was almost certain to espy you, and to notify the others with his loud warning ‘‘wee-eep,” a note in which the second syllable was much higher than the first, and more pro- longed. On one occasion while walking through the woods during a rain, we no- ticed what looked like a square black board suspended to a pine some distance from the path. On investigation the black object was discovered to be seven Crotophagas, sitting in a row on a small dead branch, and crowded as closely together as possible. They were not asleep, however, for when I had approached within thirty or forty feet, a warning note was heard, then another and another, as they one by one took flight.
38. Saurothera bahamensis Bryant. Great Bahama Cuckoo. —The ‘Rain Crow,” as the natives call this bird, was said to be abundant, but we got but one mature specimen and two young ones. Dr. Bryant states that they were quite common on New Providence in 1859. They fly about with a weak, wavy motion, and the people told us that they could catch them after a short chase, as they soon grew tired. Our specimens were obtained on the following dates, May 20, May 26, June 13; all on the eastern side of Andros. The one taken on May 20 was a ma- ture female, and the ovaries were enlarged, some of the ova being over one-fourth of an inch in diameter. In the stomach were grasshoppers and a small lizard. The stomachs of the others contained the remains of insects. Their bills were soiled, probably from investigating the leaves of the epiphytic Tillandsias, as these
60 THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS
ants found in their stomachs seemed to be of the same species as those inhabiting these plants. The description given by Cory’ agrees with the two young speci- mens, but the adult has a black band near the end of the tail-feathers, which are tipped with dirty white, except the two middle ones. This agrees with the de- scription given by Bryant.?
39. Coccyzus minor maynardi Ridgw. Maynard’s Cuckoo. —This bird, like the last species, was said to be common, but we succeeded in getting but four specimens, and during our stay saw about as many more. Their note was quite frequently heard, however, and usually from the mangroves or near by. The stomachs contained the remains of small insects and grasshoppers. On June 28 the testes were much enlarged (one-half inch long).
*40, Ceryle alcyon Linn. Belted Kingfisher.— Not uncommon on either New Providence or Andros, but no specimen was obtained. One was noted on the west side on April 23, and another on the east side two days later, although Dr. Bryant states that he saw none after Aprilz. We thought that we saw one May 26, but were not near enough in this instance to be certain.
41. Dryobates villosus maynardi Ridgw. Bahaman Hairy Woodpecker. — All our specimens were taken on Andros, where the bird was abundant, especially about the clearings.
*42, Sphyrapicus varius Linn. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. — A single speci- men, a female, was shot near Nassau about February 5.
43. Strix pratincola Bonap. American Barn Owl. — Although but few of these birds were seen, I judge from what the people said that they are common. One that I shot at Nicol’s Town had its home under an overhanging ledge on the precipitous side of a large hole about one hundred feet in diameter, known as the ‘ocean hole.” Here, in a deep recess, on March 25, we found two young ones not yet able to fly; and near by were the remains of the common rat of the island (Mus raitus). As is usual with this species, there was no nest, the birds resting on the ground. Around them for some distance the ground was covered with the re- jected food balls, composed of the bones and hair of the rodent above mentioned, and as no other bones were noticed, it is probable that the Owl’s principal article of diet was rat.
44. Speotyto cunicularia dominicensis Cory. Burrowing Owl. —The speci- men doubtfully referred to this subspecies was shot at Nassau in February. Another, presumably of the same subspecies, was seen on the southern part of Andros in June, flying about the low shrubs near the shore, but we. were not for- tunate enough to get it.
[A single specimen is referred to this form, which it much more resembles than it does the Florida form, being much darker than the latter. — J. A. A.]
*45. Falco columbarius Linn. Pigeon Hawk. — A single specimen, a male, was shot at Mastic Point on Andros on May 2. The bird was rare. A larger Hawk also was seen, but no specimens were obtained.
1“Birds of West Indies,” p. 159. ? Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. IX, p. 280.
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS 61
46. Cathartes aura Linn. Turkey Buzzard. “Crow.” — Very common on Andros, but more were seen on New Providence.
47. Columba leucocephala Linn. White-crowned Pigeon. — Very abundant during the spring and summer. In the evening we often watched them flying from Andros in the direction of New Providence. The people said that they were going to Green Bay, a distance of fifty miles. A female shot on June 28 was almost ready to lay.
48. Columbigallina passerina Linn. —Called “Ground Dove,” and “To- bacco Dove” by the natives. Exceedingly common both on Andros and New Providence. They generally fly about in small flocks of three to six, and are very tame.
49. Zenaida zenaida Bonap. Zenaida Dove. —Not as abundant as the White-crowned Pigeon, but not uncommon in the coppet. They were shy, and were heard much oftener than seen.
50. Charadrius squatarola Linn.— A pair of Black-bellied Plovers was shot on the shore near Red Bays, Andros, on April 14.
51. Agialitis vocifera Linn.—The Killdeer was first seen near Fresh Creek on the 1st of June, and on the 7th two were shot. They both proved to be males, with the testes enlarged to about .5 inch in diameter. The species was not abundant, and but few were afterward seen.
52. A®gialitis wilsonia Ord. Wilson’s Plover, — Abundant and very tame. It was found on almost all the sandy beaches, where it would’ sometimes run along just ahead of us for nearly half a mile, appearing quite to forget that it could get out of our way by flying. This species is known to breed in the Bahamas.!
53. Heematopus palliatus Temm. American Oyster-catcher. ‘“‘Sea-pie.’? — One of these birds was obtained near Red Bay on April 15. It was feeding on the extensive sand flats at low tide. Later, others were occasionally seen in similar places. It is said to breed in the Bahamas.”
54. Himantopus mexicanus Mill. Black-necked Stilt.— A flock of these birds was seen in one of the lakes on the west side of Andros on April 21, and a pair were secured. We afterwards found them occasionally in the marshes. On June 17 we saw quite a number of these birds in the swash near Wide Opening. Our man said that this was the kind of place in which they bred, and later we found a nest. It was simply a slight depression in the ground, and contained four ovate eggs of an olive-green color, blotched with brown, measuring 14 to 13 inches by 1}.
55. Symphemia semipalmata Gmel. Willet.—Commonly known as “ Tell-Bill-Willy.” Very abundant in all the creeks and swashes. The ovaries of those shot on May 31 were much enlarged.
*56, Actitis macularia Linn. Spotted Sandpiper. ‘“Sandbird.” — One specimen, a female, was shot on the west side of the island, April 21, and was the only one seen during our trip. As Cory obtained only three specimens in 1879, it is doubtful if it is a resident.
1 Cory, “Birds of Bahamas,” p. 14. ; 2 Bryant, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. VII, p. raz.
62 THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS
57. Rallus coryi Maynard. Bahaman Rail.—A single specimen from Conch Sound, Andros, April 15. It was shot and skinned by Mr. Alexander Keith, a Scotch gentleman, to whom the writer takes pleasure in acknowledging his indebtedness for this and many other favors, while on Andros. This bird was known as the Marsh Hen, and is said by the people to be common, but we never met with it again. On May 28 a woman brought us three eggs that she said were those of aMarsh Hen. They are ovate to elongate-ovate in shape, and are nearly cream color with chocolate spots and blotches irregularly distributed over the entire surface but much more numerous at the larger end. Mingled with these chocolate spots are others of a lavender gray. The eggs are of the following di- mensions: 1.60 X I.30} 1.70 X 1.22; 1.70 X 1.20 inches.
[A single specimen in fine (unworn) plumage is provisionally referred to Rallus coryi. It is, however, about the size of ordinary R. crepitans, from which it dif- fers in the gray edgings of the plumage, being much broader than in even extreme examples of that form, resulting in a generally grayer effect. — J. A. A.]
58. Ardea herodias Linn. Great Blue Heron. ‘Arsnicker.” — Not un- common.
59. Ardea rufescens Gmel. Reddish Egret.— Abundant in the swashes. The white phase of this bird was also common; many were seen, and three speci- mens were collected.
60. Ardea tricolor ruficollis Gosse. Louisiana Heron. ‘Switching-neck.” — Two pairs were obtained at Mastic Point in May. They were breeding in a large mangrove, about a mile and a half from the shore. These birds agree with Ridgway’s description (“‘ Manual North American Birds,” p. 131) except that the upper part of the throat is not white, but rufous mixed with white. These also agree with Cory’s description of A. cyanirostris. But a specimen collected on the western side of Andros answers to Cory’s description of A. leucogastra, var. leuco- prymna, and differs from the above specimens in the following points. The fore- head and crown are much darker, being quite black; the throat has more rufous, and the neck is darker. The nest of the Mastic Point birds was’ composed of small mangrove sticks, laid so as to make a circular structure nine inches in diameter and three or four deep. There was a slight depression in the top, in which were placed a few sticks, parallel to each other, and on these were four eggs. The latter vary in shape; some being ovate, while others are almost equally pointed at both ends. They are nearly malachite green’ in color, but with a slightly bluer tinge. The measurements are as follows: 1.71-1.84 x 1.29-1.34 inches.
*61. Ardea cerulea Linn. Little Blue Heron. —One specimen, shot at Stafford Creek May 5. No more were seen, which seems curious, as Dr. Bryant regarded this as the most common species of Heron; ? and Cory states that it was abundant during the winter, but no adults were taken by him. My remarks, how- ever, only apply to Andros, and the bird might be common in other localities.
62, Ardea bahamensis Brewster. Bahama Green Heron. — Locally known
? Ridgway, ‘‘Nomenclature of Colors.”
? Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. VII, p. 120. 3 “Birds of the Bahamas,” p. 171.
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS 63
by the expressive name of “Poor Joe.” We found it quite abundant in the creeks and swashes, and at Fresh Creek collected what is very probably the young of this species, hitherto undescribed. The top of the head is clove-brown with a slightly greenish gloss, streaked with cinnamon-rufous. The rest of the head, front of the neck, and the breast are white striped and mottled with sepia and bistre. The back and the remainder of the neck are olive, having the feathers edged with cinnamon-rufous. The tail is similar to the adult. Lower parts are gray, the feathers being edged with white; and the scapulars and wings are clove- brown, the coverts having an elliptical mark of wood-brown and being edged with cinnamon-rufous; the rest of the wing-feathers having a deltoid mark of white at the end. The bill is ochre yellow, darker above, and shading into black near the end of the upper mandible. Legs olive.
*62. Nycticorax nycticorax nevius Bodd. ‘“Golden’—The Black- crowned Night Heron is new to the Bahamas, and is said by the people to be abun- dant, although we did not see very many individuals. Two were secured at Conch Sound, March 30.
*64. Nycticorax violaceus Linn. Yellow-crowned Night Heron. — About as abundant as the last species. Both the above species of Nycticorax are locally known as “Goldens,” pronounced “‘gaulings.”
65. Phoenicopterus ruber Linn. — A few Flamingoes were seen on the western coast of Andros in April; but later, in June, when the breeding season had com- menced, we found them very abundant. A pair were shot on June 18, and they were then ready to lay. We were told that one of their breeding places was near Big Cabbage Creek, and a day was spent in an unsuccessful attempt to find their nests. They were described to us, however, by reliable people, who also stated that the birds sat upon their nests ‘like any other bird,” and not with their legs hanging down on either side. The birds are exceedingly shy, and in the open swashes it is difficult to get within shot; for while stealing warily toward them, you are very apt to hear a warning “‘gong, gong,” and off flies the entire flock, a streak of flame against the sky. The Flamingoes, when feeding, push their head into the mud under water; and this fact is taken advantage of to secure them. While the head is under water the negro walks rapidly forward, taking about ten steps and then stopping. By that time the bird will probably lift its head and look around. The negro stands motionless and screens his face with a branch of a tree until the Flamingo, apparently satisfied that the new object is inanimate, quietly resumes his feeding, and the negro advances as before. I was assured by intelligent men that in this way they had sometimes captured the birds alive with their hands. That the bird feeds in the manner described above is well shown by its mouth, which is peculiarly adapted to sifting from the mud any mollusks or crustaceans that might serve as food, and the gape of the bill when opened to its fullest extent is only about half an inch. We were also told that a screen is some- times built of palm leaves, and behind this the native can easily advance within shot of the flocks. A large number of young birds are yearly destroyed by the people for food. We ate the bodies of those we obtained and found the flavor most delicious. We had for a long time been living practically upon flour and hominy,
64. THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS
and this may have made the Flamingo seem better than it really was; nevertheless I think it would bear comparison with any of the much sought after game-birds. The stomachs of the pair I obtained contained no fish, but many small shells and much mud.
66. Dendrocygna arborea Linn. Tree Duck.—A flock of Ducks was seen in a lake on the west side on April 21, but we could obtain no specimens. A negro who was with us said that they were ‘Whistling Ducks,” and, as Cory * states that this species was quite abundant on Andros, the negro was probably right. I was told that earlier in the year the Ducks were very numerous on the swashes. The ground about the lake mentioned was pitted with shallow holes about two to four inches in diameter which our man said had been made by the Ducks while feeding, when the place had been covered with water. I also saw a smaller Duck near Wide Opening on June 17. In answer to my questions, I was told that it was a “Summer Duck.”
*67, Fregata aquila Linn. Man-o’-war Bird.— A number of these birds had their roosting place in the large mangrove near Mastic Point, already spoken of in connection with the Red-winged Blackbirds. We were told that formerly they used to breed there, but that of late years they had gone farther from the settlement.
*68. Pelecanus fuscus Linn. Brown Pelican. — A few seen, and one, a young bird, obtained.
*69. Phalacrocorax dilophus floridanus Aud. Florida Cormorant. — Cory, in his “Birds of the Bahamas,” states that this is an abundant species, but in his “West Indian Birds” says it is accidental in the Bahamas. We often saw it, and on June 16, while sailing through the Northern Bight, found them breeding on a small island known as Cormorant Cay. Here were old and young birds, some not able to leave the nest, but the majority able to walk. Those still in the nest were covered with a soft sooty down, and their gular sacks were pale yellowish white, darker near the bill. The nests were about eighteen inches in diameter, and about one foot in height, roughly constructed of sticks. '
*70. Anous stolidus Linn. Noddy. — A flock of these birds was seen near Fresh Creek, on June 6. They were occasionally seen afterward. =
*71, Larus atricilla Linn. Laughing Gull.— Abundant. First noted early in April.
*72, Sterna maxima Bodd. Royal Tern.—One specimen shot April 14 on Long Sound on the northern coast of Andros. A few more were seen, but the bird was not common.
*73. Sterna fuliginosa Gmel. Sooty Tern. — Since our return a specimen of this bird has been kindly sent to us by Mr. Alexander Keith of Andros. We saw none of this species while on the island.
74. Sterna anzthetus Scop. Bridled Tern. — Abundant on a small bay near Fresh Creek, where they breed. The people call this and the preceding species “egg birds,” and during the season collect and eat their eggs. They were not
? “Birds of Bahamas,” p. 183.
THE BIRDS OF ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS 65
breeding when we were at Fresh Creek early in June, but they were almost ready to breed.
*75. Sterna antillarum Less. Least Tern. — Abundant off Fresh Creek on a small cay near the larger one occupied by the Bridled Tern; neither, however, seemed to trespass on the ground of the other.
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF ICTERUS FROM ANDROS ISLAND, BAHAMAS?*
By J. A. ALLEN
TuroucH the kindness of Mr. John I. Northrop, of the School of Mines, Columbia College, New York, I have the pleasure of making known a new species of Icterus from Andros Island, one of the larger islands of the Bahaman group. During four months spent recently on Andros Island, Mr. and Mrs. Northrop devoted much attention to birds, collecting about seventy species, among them several new to the Bahamas, as well as the novelty about to be described, which adds not only a new genus to the Bahaman fauna, but a new species to science. The species is represented by nine specimens, three of which are adult males, one immature male, one adult female, three immature females, and another immature specimen of which the sex could not be deter- mined. As shown by Mr. Northrop’s notes given below, he found the species not uncommon. It is known to the residents of the island as the ‘Cocoanut Bird,” and is said to be resident throughout the year.
Icterus northropi, sp. nov.
Adult Male. — Whole anterior half of the body, as far as the middle of the breast below, and including the interscapulium above, together with the wings (except the lesser and median coverts), and tail, deep black; rest of the body, the thighs, lesser and median wing-coverts, edge of the.wing, lower wing-coverts and axillars, rich lemon-yellow; greater wing-coverts and primaries very narrowly edged, and the outer tail-feathers very narrowly tipped with white. Bill and feet black; lower mandible with the basal third bluish. In one specimen the longest two lower tail-coverts are mixed yellow and black; in the other specimens they are all wholly yellow.
Adult Female. — Similar to the male, except slightly smaller, and with the black a little less’ lustrous.
Young. — Immature birds of probably the second year are olivaceous gray above, brighter and more yellowish on the front of the head; lesser wing-coverts, lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and whole lower surface greenish yellow,
1The Auk, Vol. VII, No. 4, October, 1890, pp. 344-346. 66
THE AUK, Vo. vin, PLATE lt,
ICTERUS NORTHROP! Auten.
1. ADULT MALE. 2. YOUNG MALE,
(2 NAT SIZE.) (35 NAT. SIZE.)
s
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF ICTERUS 67
brightest on the rump and middle of the abdomen; median wing-coverts pale sulphur-yellow; greater coverts brown, edged with whitish; chin, throat, and cheeks much mixed with black, which here prevails over the yellow; there are scattered black feathers over the breast and head, and in one specimen blackish patches on the outer edge of the scapulars and sides of the breast ; wings and tail brown, the remiges edged with whitish, and the rectrices with olive.
Other specimens in a less advanced stage are similar, except that there are fewer black feathers intermixed with the yellow, the chin and the front edge of the cheeks alone being decidedly blackish, and the back is less olivaceous.
Measurements. — Length (from skins) .205 mm. (195-215 mm.); wing 94 mm. (go-99 mm.); tail 94 mm. (go-97 mm.); culmen 22 mm. (21-22 mm.); tarsus 25 mm. (24-27 mm.).
Types. — No. 49,911, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., ¢ ad., Andros Island, Bahamas, June, 1890; Mr. and Mrs. John 1.'Northrop. No. 49,912, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 9 ad., Andros Island, Bahamas, April 16, 1890.
The extent and distribution of the black and yellow in the adults are the same as in P. wagleri except that the tail-coverts are yellow instead of black; the tint of the yellow is nearly as in I. dominicensis, from which it differs in having the whole lower parts yellow from the middle of the breast posteriorly, instead of the yellow being confined to the sides of the abdomen and crissum. The two species agree in general size, but in I. northropi the bill is much stouter than in J. dominicensis.
It is surprising that a bird so conspicuous, and apparently so com- mon, as this should hitherto have escaped observation, Andros Island having been several times previously visited by ornithologists.
Mr. Northrop has kindly presented the types of this species to the American Museum of Natural History, and contributes the following notes on its habits and distribution : —
“The above species of Icterus was first collected by us at Nicol’s Town, near the northern end of Andros, on April 8, 1890. We had been there nearly a month when one morning a new note called us out of the house, and we saw three or four of these birds flying about the shrubs near by. They were so tame and unsuspicious that when one was shot, the others kept their positions undisturbed until they met asimilar fate. Of the three we got then, one was a male, one a female, and one we could not determine, but they were all in immature plu- mage. Two weeks or so later, while on a trip to the west side, we saw a number of these birds near Red Bays, and this time were fortunate
68 DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF ICTERUS
enough to get a male and female in full plumage. They were flying about the palmettoes, and the flower stalk of an agave which was a mass of golden blossoms and a great attraction to all the birds in the neigh- borhood, as the flowers contained a large amount of nectar. While near here one day, we heard a great commotion, and approaching the scene, found two of these young birds fighting so violently that we got almost near enough to take them up in our hands. The only sound we heard them utter here was a rather plaintive call of two notes; but a month later, on May 22, we heard their song. It was a sort of whistle of eight or nine notes, very sweet and pleasing, and almost always given with the same intervals, and the same arrangement of notes. The bird was observed in two other localities, the last time, June 18, near Wide Opening on the west side. It seems to inhabit the more open portions of the island, near the coast, as we never saw any inland.
“The natives say that it builds its nest in the cocoanut trees, and is always about them, hence its local name of ‘Cocoanut Bird.’ They also told us that it remained throughout the year; that the eggs were pure white; and that the young birds differed from the old in plumage. From the condition of the organs of generation, it seems that the bird breeds during the month of June.
“The stomachs of those examined contained the remains of a grass- hopper, beetles, and seeds; hence it may be inferred that its food con- sists of fruits and insects.”
THE NORTHROP COLLECTION OF CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS?
By W. M. Rankin (Pls. XXIX-XXX)
THE Crustacea collected by Dr. and Mrs. Northrop in the Ba- hama Islands in 1890 were sent to me by Professor Osborn, with the request that I prepare a report on them. The following list is the result. Such a list is of necessity largely a mere catalogue of names, but it is hoped that it may be of service in the preparation of a more extensive fauna of the Bahamas when such a work shall be undertaken. It has been with the idea of giving a little wider interest to the list that with each species the range of distribution has been given, and also the West Indian islands noted where the species has been found, al- though this latter record is no doubt incomplete. I hope at least these notes of distribution may serve as a suggestion for the fuller record of the distribution of these species among the West Indies. The synon- ymy I have made brief, merely citing the original author and usually a reference to the work where a complete synonymy may be found.
The letters (a), (0), etc., in many species indicate the various series of specimens in the collection as they were arranged originally or, in some cases, sorted out by me after their receipt. To these series I have fortunately been able to add some notes made by Dr. Northrop when the collections were made, and recently sent me by Mrs. Northrop.
Among the sixty-seven species collected I have determined four as new species, and one I have ranked as a new variety. There is also published for the first time a figure of Stenopus levis. For the careful drawings of the figures I am indebted to Mr. R. Weber. I wish to express my obligations to Miss Rathbun, of the National Museum, for assistance in identifying a few species; and also to Dr. Ortmann, of Princeton, who has kindly assisted me in many ways and to whom this report owes much of any value it may possess.
‘Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. XI, No. 12, August, 1898, pp. 225-258. 69 F
70 CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS
DECAPODA BRACHYURA-CATOMETOPA
Family Ocypodide Ortmann
1. Ocypode arenaria (Catesby)
Cancer arenarius Catesby, History of the Carolinas, II, p. 35, 1771. Kingsley, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phil., 1880, p. 184.
Ortmann, Zo6.] Jahrb., VII, p. 765, 1894.
(a)5 ¢, 2 9. Near Nassau, N.P., Jan. 24, 1890.
Range: South shore Long Island to Rio Janeiro.
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, New Providence.
2. Uca platydactyla (Milne-Edwards)
Gelasimus platydactylus Milne-Edwards, Hist. des Crustacés, II, P- 51, 1837.
G. heterocheles Kingsley, l.c., 1880, p. 137.
(a) 4 6. Under sides of stones, Dix Point, near Nassau, N.P., Feb. 4, 1890.
(()8 3,72.
Range: East and west coasts Central America, West Indies.
Collected at Jamaica. .
3. Uca vocator (Herbst)
Cancer vocator Herbst. Naturder Krabben u. Krebse, III, pt. IV, 1804.
Gelasimus vocator Martens; Kingsley, l.c., 1880, p. 147.
(a2) 1 $. Bahama Islands.
Range: East coast of America, west coast of Mexico, Panama, West Indies.
Collected at Bahamas, Cuba, Hayti, Jamaica.
4. Uca stenodactyla (M. Edwards et Lucas)
‘Gelasimus stenodactylus, M. Edwards et Lucas in D’Orbigny’s Voyage, 1843.
Kingsley: I.c., 1880, p. 154. Ortmann: Lc., p. 760, 1894.
(a)1 . Common in mud on west side of Andros Island, near Red Cays, April 17, 1890.
CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS 71
Range: West Indies, Central America, east and west coast. Collected at Cuba.
5. Uca leptodactyla (Guérin Ms.)
Gelasimus le ptodactylus Guérin Ms. (types in Phila. Acad.).
Gelasimus stenodactylus Kingsley, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., P- 155 (part), 1880.
(a) 10 8, 5 2. Holes in sand between tides about 5-6 in. deep, very shy, near Ft. Montagu, Nassau, N.P., Jan. 28, ’9o.
Some of these specimens were sent to the United States National Museum, where they were identified by Miss Rathbun, and to whom I am indebted for the following note of description:
“Uca leptodactyla belongs to the division of the genus.in which the front between the eyes is broad and the body is short, broad and sub-. cylindrical. It is most nearly related to U. stenodactyla ; the chief dif- ferences are as follows: in U. stenodactyla the body is much higher than in leptodactyla, being usually higher than long. The anterior margin of the carapace from the base of the eyestalk to the antero- lateral angle is much more oblique in leptodactylo, and the lateral mar- gins are much more convergent posteriorly. The carapace of lepto- dactyla is, therefore, more pentagonal than that of stenodactyla. In stenodactyla the lateral margin is much dilated behind the antero- lateral tooth, which is not the case in leptodactyla. The inner surface of the hands differs as follows: the short ridge on the palm at the base of the dactylus is perpendicular to the base of the propodos in leptodactyla; while it is oblique in stenodactyla. In both species the tubercular ridge running obliquely upward from the lower margin makes an angular turn at the middle of the inner surfaces, and is continued until near the upper margin. In /eptodactyla this continua- tion runs parallel to the line of tubercles at the base of the dactylus; in stenodactyla the continuation is directed obliquely towards the line at the base of the dactylus.”
Family Gecarcinide Dana 6. Gecarcinus ruricola (Linnzus)
Cancer ruricola Linneus, Sys. Nat. Ed. 10, I, p. 626, 1758. Gecarcinus ruricola Leach. Edin. Encyc., VII, 430, 1814. Ort-
mann, l.c., p. 740, 1894.
72 CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS
(2)1 ¢. BahamaIslands. (Dry.) (b) x &. Nicol’s Town, Andros Island, March 9, 1890. (Dry.)
Range: West Indies, Mexico. Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, Martinique.
7. Cardisoma guanhumi (Latreille)
Latreille, Ency. Méth., Hist. Nat. Insectes, X., 685, 1825.
Ortmann, l.c., p. 735, 1894. (a)1 3,19, 4 1,juv. Movesluggishly, make holes in the ground
by side of road under trees, Nassau, N.P., Jan. 25, 1890. Range: East and west coasts of Central America, West Africa.
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, St. Thomas, Barbadoes.
Family Grapside (Dana) 8. Leiolophus planissimus (Herbst)
Cancer planissimus Herbst, l.c., p. 3, Pl. LIX, 1804.
Miers, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 5, I, 1878, p. 153.
(2) 3%,19¢. Onshore, just south of Ft. Montagu, Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890.
(b) 2 $ juv. Ocean side of Salt Cay, N.P., Jan. 31, 1890.
Range: ‘Cosmopolitan, except the colder seas.” Ortmann.
Collected at Jamaica.
g. Plagusia depresse (Fabricius)
Cancer depressus Fabricius, Entom. Sys. Suppl., p. 406, 1775. Miers, Challenger, Brachyura, p. 272.
(a) 28. Salt Cay, New Providence. (Dry.)
Range: Charleston to Brazil, Mediterranean to St. Helena. Collected at Cuba, Jamaica.
ro. Sesarma cinerea (Say) Sesarma ricordi Milne-Edwards, Annal Sci. Nat. (3) Zool. t. 20,
p- 183, 1853. Ortmann, Carcinologische Studien, Zoél. Jahrb., Bd. X, p. 320,
1897. (a) 1 ¢ with ova. Under side of stones, Dix Pt., near Nassau,
N.P., Feb. 4, 1890.
CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS 73
Range: West Indies. Collected at St. Domingo, Hayti, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. 11. Pachygrapsus transversus (Gibbes)|
Gibbes, Proc. Am. Ass. Adv. Sci. ITI, p. 181, 1850.
Kingsley, l.c., 1880, p. 198.
(a) 4 &, juv., 3 ¢ with ova. Nassau, N.P., under stones Jan., 1890.
Range: “Warm and temperate waters of both hemispheres.” Ortmann.
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, Virgin Islands, Barbadoes.
12. Grapsus grapsus (Linnzus)
Cancer grapsus Linneus, Sys. Nat. ed. X, I, p. 630, 1758.
Smith, Trans. Conn. Ac., IV, 1880, p. 256. Ortmann, Lc., p. 703, 1894. Kingsley, 1880, p. 192; 1879, p. 401.
(a)1 6,29. Near Nassau, N.P., Jan., 1890.
Range: Warm waters of both hemispheres.
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti.
13. Goniopsis cruentatus (Latreille)
Grapsus cruentatus Latreille, Hist. Nat. des Crust., VI, p. 70, 1803. Kingsley, l.c., 1880, p. 190. Ortmann, l.c., p. 7or, 1894.
(a)1 é. (Dry.)
(b) 2 ¢. Onshore near Nassau, N.P., Jan. 23, 1890.
Range: American and African coasts of the Atlantic Ocean. Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti.
BRACHYURA-CYCLOMETOPA Family Oziide (Ortmann) 14. Eriphia gonagra (Fabricius) Cancer gonagra Fabricius, Sp. Ins., p. 505, 1781. Ortmann, l.c., p. 480, 1894. (a) 1 . Inpoolson shore, Nassau, N.P., Jan. 21, 1890. (b)1 ¢. Dix Point, near Nassau, N.P., Feb. 4, 1890. (c)1 3. Salt Cay. Ocean side, near New Providence, Jan. 31, 189go.
74 CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS
Range: Atlantic coast from Carolina to Rio Janeiro. Collected at Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, Barbadoes.
15. Domeecia hispida Eydoux et Souleyet
Eydoux et Souleyet, Voy. Bonite, I, Crust., p. 235, 1842. Ortmann, Le., p. 478, 1894.
(a) I 9, juv.
Range: West Indies, Florida, Cape Verde Islands, Senegal, Pacific islands.
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Guadaloupe.
16. Panopeus herbstii Milne-Edwards
Milne-Edwards, Hist. Nat. Crustacés, I, p. 403, 1834.
Benedict & Rathbun, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., XIV, p. 358, 1891. (a) 1 é. Nassau, N.P., Jan., 1890.
Range :, Rhode Island to Brazil.
Collected at Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Curacao, Trinidad.
17. Panopeus occidentalis Saussure
Saussure, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. (2), IX, p. 502, 1857. Benedict & Rathbun, l.c., p. 360.
(a)1 @. Near Nassau, N.P., Feb., 1890.
(6) 1 &. Onshore near Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890. Range: Atlantic from South Carolina to Brazil.
Collected at Jamaica, Old Providence, Guadaloupe, Curagao, Trinidad. 18. Panopeus americanus Saussure
Saussure, Rev. et Mag. de Zodl. (2), IX, p. 502, 1857.
Benedict & Rathbun, Lc., p. 380.
(a) t &, 4 9. Near New Providence, Bahamas, Jan.—Feb., 1890.
(6)1 é. Onshore, near Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890.
(c)1é. Nassau, N.P., Feb. 24, 1890, Dix Point.
Range: West Indies to Brazil. ,
Collected at Jamaica, St. Thomas.
CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS 75
Family Xanthide Ortmann 19. Chlorodius floridianus Gibbs
Gibbs, l.c., p. 175, 1850.
(a)1 2. Collected in pools and under stones, New Providence, and neighboring cays.
(6)1 . Dix Point, Nassau, N.P., Feb. 24, 1890.
(¢)t 8,29. Near New Providence, Jan.—Feb., 1890.
(d)1 3,3 ¢. Onshore near Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890.
Range: Florida to Brazil.
Collected at Jamaica, St. Thomas, Barbadoes.
20. Lophactza lobata (Milne-Edwards)
Cancer lobatus Milne-Edwards, Hist.Nat. Crustacés, I, p. 375, 1834.
Lophactea lobata A. Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., I, p. 249, Pl. XVI, fig. 3, 1865.
(2) 1 ¢. Quarantine Station, Jan. 25, 1890.
Range: West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda.
Collected at Jamaica and the Antilles.
wove 21. Heteractzea ceratopa (Stimpson)
Pilumnus ceratopus Stimpson, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y., VII, p- 215, 1862.
Heteractea ceratopus Kingsley, l.c., 1879, p. 396.
(a)1¢. Dix Point, Nassau, N.P., Feb. 24, 1890.
(b)1@%. Quarantine station, N.P., Jan. 25, 1890.
Range: Florida and West Indies.
Collected at Guadaloupe.
22. Actea acantha (Milne-Edwards)
Cancer acanthus Milne-Edwards, Hist. Nat. Cr., I, p. 390, 1834. Actea acantha A. Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch., I, p. 278, Pl. XVI, 1865. , (2) &. Quarantine station near Nassau, N.P., Feb. 10, 1890. Range: Florida Keys, West Indies. Collected at Jamaica, Guadaloupe.
76 CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS
PORTUNINEA Family Portunide (Ortmann) 23. Callinectes larvatus Ordway
Ordway, Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., VII, p. 573, 1863.
Rathbun, The genus Callinectes, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XVIII, P- 358, 1896.
(a) 1 ¢,1 %, spur. juv. On shore, just south of Ft. Montagu, Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890.
Range: Florida to Brazil, West Indies, Cape Verde Islands, Africa.
Collected at Bahamas, San Domingo, Jamaica, St. Thomas.
24. Callinectes tumidus (Ordway)
Ordway, l.c., p. 574, 1863.
Rathbun, Lc., p. 359, 1896.
(a2) 1 &. Nassau, N.P., Jan. 21, 1890, common in shoal water. Range: Florida to Brazil, West Indies.
Collected at Jamaica, Hayti, Old Providence.
25. Achelous depressifrons (Stimpson)
Amphitrite depressifrons Stimpson, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y., VII, p. 58, 1862.
Achelotis depressifrons Stimpson, ibid., p. 223.
(a) 1 ¢. Quarantine station, N.P., Jan. 25, 1890.
Range: South Carolina to Florida, Bermuda, West Indies. Be- sides this specimen from New Providence, the Princeton Museum pos- sesses one from the Virgin Islands; the only two localities reported from the West Indies.
26. Achelous ordwayi (Stimpson)
Stimpson, Notes on N. Am. Crustacea, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist., N.Y., p. 224, 1862.
Smith, Trans. Conn. Acad., II, p. 9.
(a2)1 dé. Quarantine station, N.P., Jan. 25, 1890.
(6) 1 %,withova. Dredged near Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890.
Range: Florida and West Indies.
Collected at St. Thomas.
CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS 77
27. Achelotis tumidulus Stimpson
Stimpson, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoél., II, p. 149, 1870.
(a)1 8. Dredged near Nassau, N. P., Jan. 22, 1890.
Stimpson describes two specimens from the coast of Florida. The species is probably only the young of A. ordwayi, as it only differs from the latter (as noted by Stimpson) in the less prominent frontal spines.
MAIOIDEA
Family Periceride Miers
28. Macrocceloma eutheca (Stimpson)
Pericera eutheca Stimpson, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., II, p. 112, 1870. Rathbun in Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XV, No. 901, p. 251, 1892. (a) 1 g. Dredged near Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890.
Range: Florida, West Indies.
Collected at Cuba.
29. Microphys bicornutus (Latreille)
Pisa bicornuta Latreille, Encyc. Méth., Hist. Nat. Insectes, X, p- 141, 1825.
Microphys bicornutus A. Milne-Edwards, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat., VIII, p. 247, 1872.
Rathbun, l.c. (No. gor), p. 253.
(2) 2 $,5 ¢. Common under rocks between tides and in pools, New Providence, Jan., 1890.
(0) x $. Quarantine station, N.P., Jan. 25, 1890.
(c)1 9. Nassau, N.P., Jan., 1890.
(dq) 1 &. Onshore near Nassau, just south of Ft. Montagu, Jan. 22, 1890.
(e) 1 ¢,juv. ‘Sea gardens,” near Nassau, N.P., Feb., 1890
(f) x 3, juv. Ocean side of Salt Cay, Feb. 6, 1890.
(g) 1 %,juv. Nassau, N.P., Feb. 15, 1890.
(h) 1 ¢,juv. Salt Cay, N.P., ocean side, Jan. 31, 1890.
Range: Florida, West Indies to Brazil, Bermuda.
Collected at numerous islands of the West Indies.
78 CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS
30. Othonia aculeata (Gibbes)
Hyas aculeata Gibbes, l.c., p. 171, 1850.
Rathbun, Lc., p. 255, 1892.
(a) 1 $. Onshore just south of Ft. Montagu, Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890.
Range: Florida and West Indies.
Collected at Cuba, Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Guadaloupe.
31. Othonia lherminieri Schramm
Schramm, Crust. de la Guadaloupe, 20, 1867.
(a) 1 $,2 9. Onshore near Nassau, Jan. 22, 1890.
The three specimens in the collection are broken and imperfect. I place them doubtfully in this species.
Range: Atlantic coast; South Carolina to Brazil.
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Guadaloupe.
32. Mithrax pilosus Rathbun
Rathbun, l.c., p. 262, Pl. XX XIX (No. gor), 1892.
(a) 1 3. Near New Providence, Jan., 1890.
(b) 2 $, fragmentary. Salt Cay, ocean side, New Providence, Jan. 31, 1890.
Miss Rathbun’s four specimens were collected in Abaco, Bahamas.
33. Mithrax cinctimanus (Stimpson)
Mithraculus cinctimanus Stimpson, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y., VII, p. 186, 1862.
Rathbun, l.c., p. 268 (No. gor), 1892.
(a) 1 ¢. Dix Point, Nassau, N.P., Feb. 24, 1890.
(b) 1 $. Quarantine station, N.P., Jan., 25, 1890.
(c) 1 @, broken. Near Nassau, N.P., Feb., 1890.
(d) 1 ¢,juv. Nassau, N.P., Jan., 1890.
Range: Florida coast, West Indies, Gulf of Mexico.
Collected at Andros Island, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Guadaloupe.
34. Mithrax forceps (A. Milne-Edwards) Mithraculus forceps A. Milne-Edwards, Miss. Sci. au Mexique, pt. 5, 1, p. 109, 1875.
CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS 79
Rathbun, L.c., p. 267 (No. gor), 1892.
(2) 6 ¢, mostly young. Ocean side of Salt Cay, Feb. 6, 1890.
(6) 1 8, fragmentary. Nassau, N.P.
(c)3 . “Sea gardens,” near Nassau, N.P., Feb., 1890.
(d) 1 3,2 9, juv.
Range: From North Carolina to Brazil and Guiana.
Collected at Nassau, Bahamas, Old Providence, St. Thomas, ‘Curacao.
35. Mithrax sculptus (Lamarck)
Mata sculpta Lamarck, Hist. Anim. sans Vert., V, p. 242, 1818. Rathbun, l.c. (No. gor), p. 271, 1892.
(a) $,1 ¢. Quarantine station, N.P., Jan. 25, 1890.
Range: Florida, West Indies to Venezuela, Surinam.
Collected at numerous localities in the West Indies.
36. Mithrax coronatus (Herbst)
Cancer coronatus Herbst, Natur. der Krabben u. Krebse, I, p. 184, Pl. XI, fig. 63, 1785.
Rathbun, Ic. (No. gor), p. 272, 1892.
(a) 1 $. Salt Cay, ocean side, near New Providence, Jan. 3, 1890.
(6) rt $,juv. Ocean side of Salt Cay, Feb. 6, 1890.
Range: Florida, West Indies, Central America, Brazil.
Collected at Abaco, Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, St. Thomas, Guad-
aloupe. Family Inachide Miers
37. Acanthonyx petiverii Milne-Edwards
Milne-Edwards, Hist. Nat. Crust., I, p. 343, 1834-
(a) t ¢, broken. Under rocks, between tides and in pools. Nassau, N.P., Jan., 1890.
Range: West Indies to Brazil and California to Chili, Galapagos.
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Guadaloupe, Martinique.
DROMIIDEA Family Dromiide Dana
38. Dromidia antillensis Stimpson
Stimpson, Notes on N. Am. Crust., Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y., VII, p. 71, 1862.
80 CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS
(a) 1 g. Nassau, N.P., Feb. 15, 1890. Range: Florida, West Indies, Brazil. Collected at Antilles, Jamaica, St. Thomas.
HIPPIDEA Family Hippide Stimpson 39. Remipes cubensis Saussure
Saussure, Rev. e¢ Mag. de Zodl. (2), IX, p. 503, 1857.
Ortmann, Die geog. Verbreit. der Decap. gruppe der Hippidea, Zool. Jahrb. IX, p. 219, 1896.
Remipes scutellatus (Fabricius), Henderson, Challenger Anomura, 38, 1888.
(a) 19 ¢ with ova. Beach at Nicol’s Town, Andros Island, April 4, 1890.
(b) 2 &,9 ¢. Quarantine station near New Providence, Jan. 25, 1890.
(c) 1 ¢. Nassau, N.P., Jan., 1890.
Range: “American and African shores of Atlantic.’ Ortmann (1. c. supra).
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, St. Christophers, Barbadoes.
GALATHEIDEA Family Porcellanide Henderson
40. Porcellana sayana Leach
Pisidia sayana Leach, Dict. d. Sci. Nat., XVIII, p. 54, 1820.
Porcellana ocellata Gibbes, l.c., p. 190, 1850.
Henderson, Challenger, Anomura, p. 109, 1888.
(a) 1 &. Came out of a shell inhabited by a large hermit crab. Nassau, N.P., Jan. 26, 1890.
Range: West Indies and Southern shores of United States.
Collected at Antilles, Jamaica, St. Thomas.
41. Pachycheles panamensis Faxon
Faxon, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zodl., XVIII, p. 75, Tab. 15,1895. Ortmann, Zodl. Jahrb., X, 1897, p. 293. (a)1 3,29. Oceanside of Salt Cay, Feb. 6, 1890.
CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS 81
Size of $ 54 mm. long, 5 mm. broad; of ¢ 5 mm. long, 6 mm. broad. These specimens have been kindly examined for me by Dr. Ortmann, who finds them identical with Faxon’s type from Panama, and also very close to the Cape Verde P. barbatus A. Milne-Edwards. This is the first recorded specimen of P. panamensis from the West Indies. . ,
42. Petrolisthes armatus (Gibbes)
Porcellana armata Gibbes, l.c., p. 190, 1850.
Petrolisthes armatus Stimpson, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y., VII, p- 73, 1862.
Ortmann, Zoél. Jahrb., X., 1897, p. 280.
(a) 1 $,1 9. Ocean side of Salt Cay, Feb. 6, 1890.
Ortmann (l.c. supra) gives full synonymy of this species and makes its distribution circumtropical; West Indies to Brazil, Gibraltar, Cali- fornia to Panama, Indo-Pacific.
Collected at Cuba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Barbadoes.
43. Petrolisthes tridentatus Stimpson
Stimpson, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. N.Y., VII, p. 75, Pl. I, 1862. (a) 1 &. Along shore, near Nassau, N.P., Feb. 20, 1890.
(b) 2 8,5 ¢. Salt Cay, N.P., ocean side, Jan. 31, 1890.
(c) 2 6,1 9. Under sponges, Nassau, N.P., Jan., 1890. Range: West Indies.
Collected at St. Thomas, Barbadoes.
PAGURIDEA Family Ceenobitide Dana
44. Coenobita diogenes (Latreille)
Pagurus diogenes Latreille, Encycl. pl. 284, fig. 2 and 3.
Milne-Edwards, Hist. Nat. Crust., II, p. 240, Pl. 22, 1837.
(a) 2 8. Nicol’s Town, Andros Island, March 23, 1890.
(b) 2 6,19. Nassau, N.P., Jan. 16, 1890.
(c) 2g. On beach, Quarantine station, near Nassau, N.P., 1890.
(d) 1 9, juv. In pools and under stones, New Providence and neighboring cays.
G
82 CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS
Range: Florida to Brazil, West Indies, Bermuda. Collected at Antilles, Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, Turks Island, St. Thomas, Barbadoes. Family Paguridz
45. Petrochirus granulatus (Olivier)
Pagurus granulatus Olivier, Encyc. Méth., VIII, p. 640, 1811.
Henderson, in Challenger, Anomura, p. 58, 1888.
(2) 3 &. Largest about 8 in. long.
(b) x $,1 9. Inshell of Strombus gigas, Nassau, N.P., Jan. 26, 1890.
Range: West Indies, Gulf of Mexico to Brazil, Cape of Good Hope.
Collected at Antilles, Cuba, Jamaica.
The common large West Indian hermit crab.
46 (?). Clibanarius vittatus (Bosc.)
Pagurus vittatus Bosc., Hist. des Crust., II, p. 8, pl. XII, 1802. Kingsley, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., p. 236, 1878. (a) 1 8, imperfect. In small shell of Strombus gigas, beach near Nassau, N. P., Jan., 1890. (b) 1 (?), fragmentary. Near Nassau, N.P., Feb. 1, 1890. Range: Ft. Macon to Florida, West Indies, Brazil. I refer these imperfect specimens doubtfully to this species. The chelz are wanting in (a), and (0) is too much broken to be of any value in the determination.
47 (?). Clibanarius tricolor (Gibbes)
Pagurus tricolor Gibbes, Proc. Amer. Assoc., p. 189, 1850.
(a) Several specimens.
(6) 1 ¢. South side New Providence, in small shells of Strombus gigas.
The determination is doubtful, as the specimens are very poor and have almost entirely lost their color. They are all withdrawn into the shells of various littoral mollusks.
CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS 83
Family Parapaguride Smith 48. Parapagurus sp.
(a) 2 9. Dredged, Jan. 22, 1890, Nassau, N.P. Length of thorax 3 and 5 mm. respectively. I refer these imperfect, colorless specimens doubtfully to some species of Parapagurus. LORICATA
Family Palinuride Bate
49. Palinurus argus (Latreille)
Palinurus argus Latr., Milne-Edwards, Hist. Nat. Crust., II, p. 300, 1837.
(a) 1 8,1 @. New Providence, Jan. 27, 1890. Holes in sand between tides, about 5-6 in. deep, “very shy.” !
(6)1 ¢. Nassau, N.P., Jan., 1890. (Dry.)
Range: West Indies to Brazil.
Collected at Antilles, Cuba, Jamaica.
STENOPIDEA Family Stenopide Bate
50. Stenopus hispidus (Latreille.) (Pl. XXIX, fig. 1.)
Palemon hispidus Olivier, Encycl., VIII, p. 666, 1811.
Stenopus hispidus Latr., Regne animal de Cuvier, ed. 2, IV, P- 93-
Bate, Challenger, Macrura, p. 211, Pl. XXX.
Herrick, The Life History of Stenopus, Nat. Acad. of Sciences, Vol. V, p. 339.
(a)1 é. Nassau, N.P., Jan. 22, 1890. “In life the antenne are carried in front, not bent back.”
I note the characters of special importance in order to compare this already described species of Stenopus with the two species follow- ing. Rostrum with a median dorsal row of 6 spines bifurcated at extremity, a lateral row of 3 or 4 spines on each side of rostrum; no ventral spines. Back of thesixth dorsalspinea double row. Rostrum
1 This label is marked as doubtfully belonging to this specimen.
84 CRUSTACEA FROM THE BAHAMAS
does not reach to end of peduncle of inner antenna. Carapace of thorax very rough, with firm, sharp spines which are longer on the dorsal than on the lateral regions. Abdomen thickly armed with outwardly projecting spines. Third pereiopod long, abundantly armed with spines. The propodos with six rows above and below and two on each lateral surface.
Measurements: total length 50.5 mm., length of cephalo-thorax 16.5 mm., of abdomen 34 mm., of rostrum 6 mm., of telson 9.5 mm.
Unless the eastern form should prove distinct from the West Indian, we have a widely distributed species occurring in the warm wa- ters of both hemispheres. It has been reported from: Indian Ocean (Olivier), Australia (Peron and Lesneur), Borneo and Philippines (Adams and White), South Pacific (Dana), Ambonia (DeMan), Fiji Islands and Bermuda (Bate), Cuba (Von Martens), Bahama Islands (Herrick).
I introduce a figure of this specimen (PI. xxix, Fig. 1), although not a new species, in order to compare it with the two following species, figures of which have not yet appeared.
51. Stenopus semilzevis Von Martens (Pl. xxix, Fig. 2)
Von Martens, Ueber Cubanische Crustaceen, Arch. f. Naturgesch., Bd. 38, p. 144, 1872.
(a) 1 6, 1 g with ova. Under large sponge, New Providence, Jan., 1890.
My specimens correspond very closely, except in certain minor particulars noted below, with the description given by Von Martens of a species “probably from the West Indies,’ which he found unde- scribed in the Berlin Museum and which he called S. semilevis.
Von Martens’ description (l.c. supra) I reproduce: ‘‘Cephalo- thorax spiny; abdomen smooth; rostrum short, not longer than the peduncle of the inner antennz, compressed laterally and prolonged as a ridge nearly to the sharply marked cervical furrow, above with four teeth, below teeth wanting. Carpus of third pair of pereiopods quad- rangular as in S. hispidus, but the chele compressed, with smooth sides and not so long; chele,