G. E. Yerrill — Fauna of the Idmul of JJo)ni)uca. -317 



tions to science from the fauna and flora of this ishxnd, for aiding us 

 by his own knowledge of the birds, the best collecting grounds, and 

 much genei-al information and help ; to the Bishop of the Roman 

 Catholic Church and his priests for their hospitality and aid, es)>e- 

 cially in allowing us to enter the churches in search of some species 

 of bats and the owl {A. fammea nhjrescen.s Lawr.) ; to Mr. A. Davis 

 Reviere and his brother Emory Reviere, of Clark Hall, for their great 

 kindness and hospitality while we were in the Layou Valley ; to Mr. 

 Hennessey Dupigny, who accompanied ns part of the time, and to 

 whose consummate woodcraft and knowledge of the habits of the 

 birds we are in a large measure indebted for our success and for 

 many valuable specimens, which we should otherwise have been 

 unable to procure ; and to Mr. Arthur Ogilvy, Mr. A. Frampton, and 

 Mr, Wm. Gellion, for many acts of kindness and aid. In addition 

 to these above named gentlemen many others gave us much valuable 

 assistance and all endeavored to make our stay there as pleasant and 

 profitable as possible. 



For the working up and identification of the collections we are 

 indebted to the following gentlemen : — to Mr. J. A. Allen of the 

 Am. Mus. of Nat. Hist, for the identification of the birds and mam- 

 mals, for certain notes on the same which appear in the following 

 list, and for valuable advice on the nomenclature used therein ; to 

 Prof. E. D. Cope for the identification of the Reptiles and Batrach- 

 ians, and for notes on the same ; to Mr. Sanderson Smith of the Am. 

 Mus. of Nat. Hist, for the identification of part of the Mollusca ; 

 and to Prof. S. I. Smith of Yale Univ. for the identification of the 

 Crustacea. 



Notes on the Mammals. 



The mammals of Dominica are very few indeed, those indigenous 

 being mainly bats, of which there are several species that are quite 

 common, but rather difficult to procure owing to their nocturnal 

 habits. We procured but one, which Mr, Allen examined and says 

 is probably Vespertilio nigricans, at least it so nearly resembles it 

 that he cannot see wherein it differs without having more material. 



These small bats, of this species or very closely resembling it, 

 were very common about Bass-en-ville in the evening, but though I 

 shot several I lost all but this one among the high grass and bushes, 

 the light being very dim when they appeared, and in the morning 

 we could never find any trace of them, they probably having been 

 eaten or carried off by the crabs {P. dentata) which were always on 



