46 



POFULALl SCIENCE MONTIIJA' 



flora are said to be poorer than those of the English island, but there 

 are certain advantages in having the station established upon land 

 possessed by the United States. This also applies to the Isle of Pines, 

 which has been ably recommended by J. Fred Clarke. 



The marine fauna of the Tortngas is greatly superior to that of 

 the Florida mainland or Gulf Coast. Moreover, while the ocean water 

 surrounding the Tortugas is of the purest the shore waters of Florida 

 and the Gulf of Mexico are often charged with silt, and sullied with 

 the drainage from mangrove swamps to sucli a degree as to be rapidly 

 fatal to pelagic life. The littoral fauna of the mainland shores is 





.f*'!9SJX"* 



i5^^L 





Beach Rock at Mastic Point, Andros Isd., Bahamas. A typical sea-worn rocky beach com- 

 posed of agglutinated fragments of shells, corals, etc. 



inferior to that of the Tortugas, and the greater heat, mosquitoes and 

 occasional epidemics of mainland places render them undesirable. 



The fauna of Bermuda is subtropical and consequently poorer than 

 that of the Bahamas, Tortugas or West Indies. Judging from the 

 results accomplished by Fewkes and others the pelagic life appears to 

 be even poorer than that of the Bahamas, although the expeditions 

 under Verrill have demonstrated that the littoral fauna is very rich. 



Summing up, the question of site appears to have been narrowed 

 down to a choice between the Tortugas and one of the Antilles, the 

 favorite island being Jamaica. Before this question can be definitely 

 settled some competent naturalist who is already familiar with the 

 fauna and flora of one of these places should investigate the other with 

 a view to drawing a just comparison between them. It is remarkable 



