694 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



npon him. He went overland from Havana to Cien^ga de Zapata 

 (Zapata Swamp), tlience to Caimanera and Cienfuegos. In Sep- 

 tember lie passed through Trinidad, San Juan de Letran, Giiinia 

 de Soto, Araca with its great marsh, and other places, all of 

 which were closely and attentively examined. 



On the 22d of February of the following year he started from 

 Casilda toward Manzanillo, thence to Bayamo, where he was en- 

 tertained with true Cuban hospitality. Drawn by an irresistible 

 desire to acquire more specimens of a very interesting mammal 

 known locally as tejon, called almiqui by Poey and his suc- 

 cessors, and scientifically named Solenodon cubanus (Peters), he 

 traversed the Sierra Maestra. Another mammal, the Jutia an- 

 dardz {Capromys melmiurus, Poey), of which he had obtained 

 specimens from Dr. Yero, also attracted him thither. Besides 

 having specimens of these species, he desired to trace them to 

 their homes and follow them to their burrows, but his success 

 was prevented by natural obstacles which he could not over- 

 come. With the Yero brothers he went to Guisa, where he 

 found in one of the caverns the interesting bat MonopJiyllus 

 Redmanni, and many specimens of mollusks. Reaching Santi- 

 ago de Cuba in December, 1857, he closely investigated its vi- 

 cinity. He revisited Cabo de Cruz in April, 1858, in search of 

 the tropical bird Phaetlion flavirostrus called in Quhsi rdbijun- 

 co, from the two median rectrices that gracefully prolong its tail 

 which disappears from the place in the latter part of August 

 or beginning of September and returns in February, and ob- 

 tained very good specimens of it. In June of the same year he 

 visited Caimanera, in the harbor of Guant^namo, for mollusks. 

 At Zateras, in 1859, he met the botanist Charles Wright, of Con- 

 necticut, who had already collected a number of plants for Har- 

 vard University and had returned for new finds. The two ex- 

 plored in company, mutually aiding each other ; and Wright ac- 

 quired snails and insects and bird skins for the Smithsonian In- 

 stitution, in return for which Gundlach had seeds and specimens 

 of plants to send to Havana. He returned to Santiago de Cuba ; 

 visited Baracoa in May, where he went to the "Marianna" es- 

 tate to see the famous branching palm ; ascended the mountain 

 called Yunque de Baracoa (Baracoa Anvil), where he discovered 

 a number of insects and new species of mollusks ; and went on 

 by way of Gibara to Nuevitas, whence he passed to Puerto Prin- 

 cipe, and finally arrived in Havana in August, 1859, three years 

 and three months after his departure on the expedition. 



Established again in the Cuban capital, Gundlach occupied 

 himself with the systematic compilation of his collections. He 

 described and published three new species of birds ; sent the 

 reptiles to Dr. Peters, of Berlin, for classification, and the land 



