HABITAT OF STYGICOLA. 



189 



perhaps 0.75 mile wide and less than 10 feet above sea-level. It is such a beach 

 as is shown in figure A, plate 11, raised to a little higher elevation. There is here 

 but little sandy soil, the underlying rock coming near the surface. The slope of 

 the hill behind this level stretch is composed of bare rocks very similar to those 

 of plate 11, figure a, except that the gnarled roots of the densely growing stunted 

 shrubs and trees twist about the rocks and into the crevices. The character of this 

 area was very well described by my host, who dryly remarked, when I asked him 

 whether I should go on horse to the caves on top of the hills, "No, you will go on 

 your hands and knees." The disagreeable impression that these hills make on 

 one traversing them on foot in the heat of the day is heightened by the innumerable 

 hermit-crabs that lurk in every cranny and scamper over the rocks. At an eleva- 

 tion of about 100 feet is another level stretch of rocks with a thin layer of sandy soil. 

 Within less than a quarter of a mile from the ocean is a natural well, improved 

 somewhat with the chisel. It is circular, with a diameter of about 6 feet and is 

 less than 10 feet deep. It is evidently situated along the line of an original fissure 

 in the coralline rock such as is shown in plate 11, figure A, for there are openings 

 in opposite sides of the deeper part of the well that have an indeterminable extent. 

 The surface of the water in this well is near sea-level, about 4 feet below the level of 

 the land. The water, over 5 feet deep, is perfectly fresh and blind fishes were 

 more abundant in this well than in any other area of the same extent. 



We 



A- 





Fig. AS. Diagrams of Cave of the lnsurrLt-tus and the Carboneiia Well tug. 13, plate n) taken from X. 3, Depression 

 about Mouth of Cave; 2, Dry Cave; 1, The Pool of Water near Sea-level, S.L, and with Submerged Stalactites 

 and Stalagmites; r, Side Rifts in Carboneria Well. 



There are a number of caves on the plateau over the hills and I visited two of 

 these. They are within 4 or 5 miles of the seashore. Their mouths lie at an ele- 

 vation of about 100 feet (87 and 93 by barometer). In general character these caves 

 are like others visited in Matanzas province, i. e., at Matanzas and at Alacranes, or 

 Alfonso xii. They occur in a level area and from a distance there is nothing to 

 indicate their presence. There is first a slight depression in the level country 

 (fig. 68 (3) ). From one side of this depression a fissure, whose upper and lower 

 surfaces are approximately parallel, extends down at an angle of about 45 or 

 more (plate 11, fig. b). The slope is in all cases very steep, though not always 

 regular. In horizontal section the walls appear to form sections of a circle so that 

 these caves all suggest fragments of hollow cones. At a depth of about 80 feet 



