Report on the Bahama Cerions planted on the Florida Keys. 207 



The colonies at Tortugas were studied from April 25 to April 28, 1914. 

 Of the 72 painted cerions left on Bird Key, of which only 1 8 were noted 

 in 1913, none remained. On Garden Key 138 of the "King's Road 

 Type" were planted in 1912, and of these we recovered 62, in 1913, 

 and also one young of last year (1914) , all of which we transferred to the 

 parade ground because we believed that the conditions there would be 

 more favorable for their existence. Someone, however, burned the 

 grass on the inside of the fort and thus destroyed our colony. An 

 examination of the place in 1914, where the 138 were first planted in 

 1912, revealed 6 living specimens of the original planting, but no young. 

 The place was less overgrown this year than last. The cleaning up to 

 which I subjected it last year seems to have decreased the Ipomcea 

 pescaprce growth considerably, which gives the cerions a little better 

 chance. We left the 6 specimens in this place in a bunch of grass. 



On Loggerhead Key the conditions are much more favorable for the 

 colonies, although here also we had some disappointments, for the 

 colonies planted within the cages came to naught through an unfortu- 

 nate accident. 



The northern colony near the laboratory (plate 7 A) , consisting of the 

 "White House Type" cerions, was in a flourishing condition. We 

 gathered 615 young in various stages of growth, from the mere nepionic 

 tips to adults, and 162 of the planted specimens. The young were 

 mostly about the bases of tufts of grass, being buried beneath the sur- 

 face of the coral sand at the base of the grass bunches, from which a 

 little scratching would bring them to the surface. The adult speci- 

 mens (plate 2, top and bottom rows) of the first locally-grown genera- 

 tion were retained for comparison with the check series at Washington. 

 In 100 of the larger specimens (plate 5, lower figure) we made two 

 scratches with a file in the ribs of the upper whorls, the other 500 being 

 left unmarked. 



The 500 tips (plate 4) of the northern colony we transferred to a 

 place 150 feet distant from and a little south of east of the stake which 

 marked the original planting (plate 7s). They are in the southeast 

 corner of the same meadow in which the original planting was made, 

 in surroundings apparently entirely similar to those in which they 

 were born. We marked this place with a stake and a metal tag which 

 bears the legend, "Cerions X." 



We planted the 100 marked specimens on the west side of the path 

 between the laboratory and the light-house, about 135 feet south of 

 the stake marking the original colony on this end of the island (plate 

 7 c). The planting is marked by a stake which stands in the north- 

 east corner of the large meadow, and bears the legend "Cerions Y." 

 The conditions here appear to be exactly like those where the speci- 

 mens were born that is, bunches of Bahama grass and cactus forming 

 the vegetation. This colony should therefore develop just as if the 

 specimens had not been transferred. 



