— 221 — 



which had an almost imperceptible slope downwards and at last 

 in about the middle of the lagoon was covered with shallow water, 

 and not until here, in the neighbourhood of the water, was there 

 a belt with salt-bushes, partly Batis maritima L. partly Salicornia 

 amhigua Mich. Out in the shallow water some quite young Am- 

 cennia and Rhizophora were growing scattered here and there. 

 What has been the cause of this great change? 



In talking with the owner of the plantation "Anguilla", Mr. 

 Lunney, to whom the western end of Krausse's lagoon belongs, 

 some light was thrown on the subject. St. Croix was in the year 

 1899 ravaged by a serious hurricane, and after this the forest had 

 died, and then Mr. Lunney had cleared the dead forest and used 

 it as fuel for his sugar-mill. 



But why did the forest die? 



On a later visit to a locality in the eastern end of Krausse's 

 lagoon which I had visited in 1895 I believe I found the explana- 

 tion. At this locality the marsh-like plains mentioned by me were 

 earlier found. Scarcely anything was left of these or of the 

 vegetation then existing. The ground was everywhere covered by 

 sand and gravel, and not until at the depth of several inches was 

 clayish soil found. According to my view the forest has died for 

 the simple reason, that the sea, which during the hurricane has 

 been naturally in violent agitation, has washed up great quantities 

 of sand and gravel ^) into the lagoon. The former muddy soil has 

 thus become firmer and drier, and the vegetation then existing has 

 not been able to accomodate itself to so sudden a change, but has 

 died. In the western direction of the lagoon we have a large 

 wide plain, extending over the whole interior of the lagoon, quite 

 down to the above mentioned land at Anguilla; but while as 

 earlier mentioned the dead forest had disappeared from this loca- 

 lity, some remains of it were seen here in the eastern part of 

 the lagoon. The picture (fig. 14) shows a part of the dead forest; 

 this seems especially to have consisted of Avicennia, but some 

 Rhizophoras were also found. The ground was firm and rather 

 dry so that as a rule one's feet would not sink in and was 



^) The gravel consisted to a great measure of Halimeda-ioints, which are 

 hght and of comparatively large bulk and therefore easily washed up by 

 the sea. As mentioned p. 206 this Halimeda-grAwel in some places is 

 found abundantly deposited in the sea. 



