2 BULLETIN 192, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



ing to delve even superficially into the interesting history of events that 

 have haunted this enchanted isle almost from its very discovery. 



Hispaniola presents a very diversified geographic as well as geologic 

 aspect, and its faunal substrate features have little in common with its 

 political divisions. The Cul-de-Sac Plain with its subsea-level Lake 

 Enriquillo practically divides Hispaniola into a northern and a southern 

 division, which in the not distant past constituted separate islands. This 

 region is semiarid, with a magnificent cactus and xerophytic flora. To 

 the south of this a range of mountains extends from the western end 

 to Barahona in the east with Mount La Selle, its highest culmination, 

 attaining an altitude of 8,793 feet. This range, with its many spurs 

 reaching the iron-bound coasts, has yielded moUuscan material only 

 from the edges of the slender passes that traverse it in several places. 

 Its major portion promises rich returns to the venturesome collector. 



The northern part of the island is traversed by another magnificent 

 mountain chain, the Cibao Range, which extends from Cap a Foux, 

 the northwestern point of the island, in a southeasterly direction to 

 Cape Engano, the eastern extremity of the island, with many spurs to 

 the north and south. The beauty of this range is incomparable and 

 must be seen to be worthily appreciated. 



To the north and east of this is another range known as the Cordil- 

 lera Septentrional, which, although it has been explored in a natural- 

 history way, nevertheless continues to yield novelties to every ardent 

 endeavor. 



It is the high mountains everywhere that promise worth-while riches 

 to the explorer. The lowland plains bordering the Artibonite and the 

 Cul-de-Sac region are less promising, and this is probably also true of 

 the lowland valleys of the Dominican Republic, while the forbidding 

 iron-bound shores present even greater difficulty of approach to the ex- 

 plorer than the rugged interior. 



The operculate fauna, while not so extensive or diversified as that 

 of Cuba or Jamaica, with which it has affinities, is, nevertheless, a rich 

 one. Here, as in those islands, we find certain widely distributed species 

 occupying coastal plains or extensive lowland reaches, while others re- 

 stricted to limestone outcrops of mountain regions are more confined 

 in their distribution. 



Shells from Hispaniola reached Europe at a comparatively early pe- 

 riod after the white man's invasion. Some of the earliest were described 

 without mention of collector or locality. Occupation of the island by 

 France yielded that country quite a number of specimens with such 

 faulty data. 



H. Crosse, in the Journal de Conchyliologie for 1891, volume 39, pages 

 69 to 95, gives an interesting account of the contributions in the mol- 

 luscan field made by various collectors up to that time in Hispaniola. 



