8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM [vol.82 



that evening we left Barahona on the Rosita, a 10-ton single-masted 

 sailboat carrying two jibs, with a crew of three men. With a favorable 

 wind we reached the island of Beata about 1 p.m. on May 10. The 

 little cove at Ocrik on the northern side of the island had a sandy 

 beach above which stood two small houses. Don Eduardo Echevaria, 

 in charge of the salt works, not now in operation, received us hospita- 

 bly and gave us a room in one of his houses, a welcome that was much 

 appreciated, as the intense sun would have made living in a tent almost 

 unbearable. Beata Island is low and has a slightly undulating surface 

 composed of a mass of limestone much eaten by erosion, so that the 

 ground is rough and broken. Thorn-covered trees, bushes, and vines 

 grew from scanty soil accumulated in crevices in the rock, and with 

 abundant cacti formed a jungle so dense that it was to be penetrated 

 for any distance only along trails cut laboriously into the interior. In 

 a few places there was a thin covering of soil, but over most of the 

 island the bare rock was exposed. The coast was bare and open, with 

 stretches of sandy beach alternating with low, rocky headlands. 

 Though the West Indies Pilot gives an elevation of 100 meters, the 

 highest points we observed were not more than 35 meters. 



Our field work was carried on principally early in the morning, as 

 by 11 o'clock the blazing sun beating down on the island made any 

 physical exertion arduous, and even in the earlier part of the day 

 the heat was at times most oppressive. Snakes were fairly common, 

 and lizards abounded, some of those taken proving new to science, as 

 did also several forms of land shells that we collected. Within 15 

 minutes after leaving camp on our first morning afield we obtained a 

 form of Microligea that was recognized instantly as being unknown. 

 On May 14 we went out in the boat to five isolated limestone rocks 

 lying in a semicircle 2 to 5 kilometers offshore. Three of these were 

 30 to 45 meters long by 15 meters wide, elevated 6 to 12 meters above 

 the sea. Bridled terns and noddies nested there, and we found a few 

 boobies. 



We left Beata Island about 5 p.m. on May 15, but on account of 

 calms and headwinds did not reach Barahona until 2 a.m. on May 18. 

 On May 19 we started for Haiti, stopping 6 kilometers north of 

 Habanero, beyond the Rio Yaque del Sur, to collect in the cactus- 

 grown desert (pi. 4). That night we were in San Juan, Dominican 

 Republic, and on the following morning. May 20, crossed into Haiti, 

 pausing in the rolling plains area east of Las Cahobes to collect a small 

 series of grasshopper sparrows. We arrived in Port-au-Prince that 

 evening. 



On May 20 we collected in the region of Thomazeau, visiting Source 

 Caiman and getting a view of the shore of the Etang Saumatre (pi. 6), 

 with a flock of flamingos standing in the shallow water. The great 

 swamp at Trou Caiman was entirely dry. The following day we 



