1909.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 353 



localities were designated by districts as follows: Sanchez; Samana; 

 San Lorenzo; El Valle; La Vega; Miranda. Each of these districts 

 included the surrounding country for a radius of from twenty to 

 thirty miles. Sanchez, situated at the head of Samana Bay, proved 

 the most profitable collecting ground, for it affords a great variety 

 of country and vegetation. The town is built close to the shore of the 

 bay on a steep hillside. Directly back of the town a range of moun- 

 tains, which rises to a height of 3,500 feet, is covered with a dense 

 tropical forest, with the exception of the lower slopes, which are cleared 

 and partially under cultivation. West and south of the town are 

 extensive mangrove swamps, extending inland for twenty-five to thirty 

 miles and stretching across the bay to the mouth of the Barracota 

 River. Samana is also situated on the northern shore of Samana Bay, 

 about 16 miles east of Sanchez, and is surrounded by rolling hills, 

 forest-clad mountains, and broad and fertile valleys. The fauna was 

 much like that of the Sanchez district, but birds were by no means 

 so abundant. A few miles east of Samana, and half way across the 

 bay, is a large, wooded Key, known as the Cayo Levantado, and here 

 several rare species, as well as several migrants hitherto unrecorded 

 from San Domingo, were obtained. 



San Lorenzo is an abandoned banana estate on the southern shore 

 of Samana Bay, almost directly opposite Samana, and ten miles dis- 

 tant. It is situated on a small bay of its own (San Lorenzo Bay), 

 into which the Cana Honda River empties, and this bay and river are 

 fringed with extensive and deep mangrove swamps. The hills and 

 mountains back of San Lorenzo are of limestone formation, and are 

 remarkable for their isolated, conical forms and •numerous caves. 

 Between the hills are wide, partly swampy valleys, some of which are 

 covered with dense forests, while others are open and grassy. This 

 proved an excellent collecting ground, and many species occurred here 

 which were not seen elsewhere. El Valle is a small interior village, 

 some twenty-five miles inland from San Lorenzo. It is built on a wide 

 and beautiful prairie. These prairies or savannas are often swampy 

 and are covered with a luxuriant growth of coarse high grass, with 

 numerous clumps of trees and dense underbrush scattered over them. 

 In many places deep ravines, or arroyos, intersect the savannas, 

 and these are invariably filled with dense forest growth. The forests 

 in this vicinity are almost impenetrable on account of the sharp saw- 

 grass, which cuts the skin like a knife and even penetrates strong- 

 clothing and leather leggings. It is quite different from the saw-grass 

 of the southern United States, inasmuch as it climbs over the trees, 

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