Reptiles in the West Indies 123 



scratched around in the banana trash and the holes in the 

 ground out of which one could pull the rotten stumps of 

 plants from which the bananas had been cut. By great good 

 fortune we came up with a really wonderful series of the 

 animals, whose peculiarities are not discoverable to the 

 naked eye. They look like velvety brown caterpillars about 

 two inches long. We killed them in hot water, which ex- 

 panded and relaxed them, and preserved them for perma- 

 nent study in various ways — a fine collection. We were 

 well satisfied and returned to Port Antonio. There I as- 

 siduously collected an enormous series of sea urchins of 

 the genus Cidaris, which Professor R. T. Jackson, my old 

 freshman adviser, wanted for statistical study. As I re- 

 member it, we then spent several weeks at Port Antonio, 

 awaiting a boat to Santiago, Cuba. 



Several days before sailing Ros said to me, "I have a 

 funny lump under my toe." I said, "Let's see it." The skin 

 was tight and shiny over something which looked as if an 

 acorn had been pushed under it. Without saying what I 

 was going to do, I gave the thing a pinch and out popped 

 a mass of little white animals that looked like chestnut 

 worms, and which Ros declared had black eyes that ac- 

 tually bhnked. Without discussing the zoological improba- 

 bilities involved, I washed the cavity where they had de- 

 veloped with formahn, which caused her acute discomfort 

 but cured matters at once. I found out that while I had 

 been absent on Beacon Hill the young ladies had wandered 

 up the valley of a lovely brook, being extremely bored 

 sitting about Bath, and having found a shady pool far up 

 in the woods they proceeded to spend their days dallying 

 about and swimming 171 puris Jiaturalibus. And of course, 



