446 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



tion could be closely followed and observed under virtually normal, 

 natural, yet controlled conditions. 



During the entire period of our stay in Trinidad, Dr. Smith made 

 headquarters at Simla, which is located at an elevation of about 800 

 feet on the inland (southern) slope of the Northern Range of Trini- 

 dad. This Range comprises the island's highest and most heavily for- 

 ested land, reaching an elevation of more than 3,000 feet; its third 

 highest peak, Morne Bleu (2,781 feet) lies some miles northeast of 

 Simla. Botanical collecting along the crest of the Range toward 

 Morne Bleu provided Dr. Smith with excellent material; the low 

 crest forest bears a heavy growth of epiphytic ferns and bryophytes, 

 with many species of orchids, aroids, and bromeliads. Among the in- 

 teresting trees and shrubs of this rain-drenched forest are species of 

 the melastome, madder, and pepper families, while among the under- 

 growth of ferns is to be found the beautiful white-flowered succulent 

 Begonia glandulifera, one of a group that ranges throughout the Les- 

 ser Antilles in wet areas. 



In Port-of-Spain we paid our respects to the American Consul, and 

 fortuitously, through a misdirected telephone call, we became ac- 

 quainted with Frank Ambard, customs official, who has a very fine 

 and complete representation of the butterflies of Trinidad. Nearly 

 every species in his collection is represented by a pristine pair — with 

 few exceptions reared by himself. 



We also visited the Royal Victoria Museum, of which Arthur N. 

 Greenhall is the director. This museum possesses a number of zoologi- 

 cal rarities, including the giant tadpole of a relatively small frog, 

 Pseudis paradoxic. The adult is under 4 inches long, whereas the 

 tadpole may reach 7y 2 inches in length. 



On March 12, at 5 p. m., we were under way on the first leg of our 

 40 days' and 40 nights' cruise through the islands. This last day in 

 Trinidad had been a busy one getting our stores aboard, filling the 

 water and the fuel tanks, and our collecting chests with alcohol needed 

 for the preservation of zoological specimens. It was a rolling first 

 night at sea. The next morning was one of busy preparation organiz- 

 ing gear and containers, fitting together our water glass, and as- 

 sembling the bottom sampler. By lunch time we were tied up off 

 the sea wall in St. George Harbor, Grenada, just across the roadway 

 from the ship chandlers and the wholesale district, a busy harbor 

 indeed, teeming with the loading and unloading of cargoes from 

 the interisland schooners. We took time to make a number of pur- 

 chases essential for our collecting work, particularly a small kerosene 

 heater for Dr. Smith's plants in their presses below deck, where 

 the plant specimens had to be dried because of the wind, the occasional 

 rain or spray, and the lack of space topside ; and a wooden shovel for 

 screening beach sand for its contained macroscopic organisms. 



