A NEWLY DISCOVERED WEST INDIAN MOLLUSK 



FAUNULA 



By Paul Bartsch 



Curator, Division of Mollusks and Cenozoic Invertebrates, United States 



National Museum 



During the exploration of certain parts of Hispaniola during the 

 spring of 1931, Dr. Alexander Wetmore, assistant secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, visited among other localities the island 

 of Beata, where he and F. C. Lincoln, of the Biological Survey, ob- 

 tained a quart bag full of scrapings from under the edges of stones 

 and similar places. This material has yielded an amazing lot of 

 new land mollusks. 



Beata Island lies about 6 mile& off Beata Point, the southern ex- 

 tremity of the island of Haiti. It is connected with that island 

 by a submarine bank on which there are from 12 to 18 feet of water. 

 It is about 41/4 miles in length in a north and south direction, and 

 4 miles in width. 



The United States West Indian Coast Pilot gives an elevation of 

 330 feet for the island, but Doctor Wetmore states that it " is low, 

 and so far as my knowledge goes from personal observation, does not 

 rise to the altitude given for it on current charts. Mr. Lincoln and 

 I estimated the highest points at from 76 to 100 feet above the sea, 

 in which regard we were joined by a resident on the island." 



Doctor Wetmore also says that " the island is of characteristic 

 limestone formation with large areas of rock bare of soil, and is 

 much eroded. Scrub and cacti grow densely and may be penetrated 

 only along the trails. 



" The rubbish collected for shells was obtained along a space of 

 a quarter of a mile bordering the trail going inland from the north 

 shore. Here in places there is a shallow covering of loose soil that 

 supports a more luxuriant tree growth than that in other sections." 



The affinities of the various forms herein described are Haitian, 

 but all are so strikingly differentiated that it is safe to believe that 

 Beata Island has for a long time been separated from the larger 

 island. 



No. 2929.-PROCEEDINGS U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. VOL. 81, ART. 6 

 108731—32 



