FAUNA OF ST. CROIX ISLAND 1 1 1 



progenitors were small plaiu-ooloured moths that liut 

 tered weakly about tl»e cave, avoiding the light. 



I had hoped to find false-scorpions on the nesting 

 sites, tor such creatures fre(inent birds' nests an-,! the 

 haunts of dassies or other mammals: but, 1 found none 

 at St. Croix, nor any true scorpions. 



N'arious spiders were found, but all of the 2-lnnged 

 type. The f-1 united spiders including large baviaan 

 spinnekop and trap-door spiders which abound on the 

 mainland, are not so readily dispersed by winds as are 

 their 2-lunged relatives. Under stones on the hillside, 

 1 found several s])ecies of Oonopidae, amongst which was 

 a (Jrahamstown species described by myself some years 

 ago as Gaiiiasomorpha aiistralis. 



The most interesting spider taken w^as a large speci- 

 men of Desis pentlicri, a long-jawed creature of submarine 

 habits : at high tide it dwells in sheltered retreats 

 amongst rocks beneath the waves, emerging only it low 

 water. I found it crawling over a boulder at the entrance 

 to the cave. 



There were no millipedes, nor centipedes, but the long 

 slender Oeophilidae were fairly common. 



After a very successful and pleasant trip, we returned 

 1o Port Elizabeth in one of Messina's fine tugs. Mr. 

 ]\ressina informed us that St. Croix was once the centre 

 of a whaling industry, and was occupied for a long time. 

 Yet, from a residential standpoint, the island has serious 

 limitations, for there is no fuel and little, if any, fresh 

 water. Mr. Messina reported the occurrence of tolerably 

 good drinking water in a certain cave, a point of some 

 interest in view of the fact that the island actually visited 

 by P>. Dias did afford him springs of fresh water, accord- 

 ing to the somewhat confused account of the historian 

 de Barros. Sundry attempts have been made to discredit 

 the identity of St. Croix with Bartholomew's island of 

 the Cross, but the identification seems to me very prob 

 able. I can now understand why it should prove 50 at- 



