CARIBBEAN EXPEDITION, 195 6 — SCHMITT 453 



days on the island thoroughly sampling the microlepidopteran 

 fauna. In this brief span, in a rather restricted area, nearly 100 species 

 of Microlepidoptera were taken. In this material are many species 

 formerly unknown to science, many of which appear to be endemic. 

 Other species such as Brachyacmu palpigera, and the notorious pink 

 boll worm (Pectinophora gossypiella) were formerly unrecorded from 

 the island. Extensive collecting revealed the presence of both of the 

 above species on many of the islands to the north. Preliminary exami- 

 nation indicates that the microlepidopterous family Blastobasidae, 

 the larvae of which feed in dead and decaying vegetable matter, finds 

 its greatest development in the New World Tropics where it replaces 

 the Lyonetiidae of the Old World Tropics. The Blastobasidae were 

 formerly considered a largely temperate zone family. 



Dr. Clarke wished to make a final trip to the fresh-water lake that 

 lies some miles inland, near the main ridge of the island at the head 

 of the Koseau River. He and Dr. Smith spent a very profitable day 

 in the vicinity of the little lake, which lies in a forest-surrounded val- 

 ley at an elevation of about 1,700 feet. Along the swampy shores of 

 the lake are found several species of grasses and sedges, behind which 

 occur the usual genera of tropical trees and shrubs. Collecting along 

 the trail back toward the coast, the botanist obtained many epiphytes 

 in the wet moss-covered forest, while an endemic West Indian 

 ericaceous plant, Hornemannia racemosa, was noted as abundant. A 

 little trailside raspberry, Rubus rosaefolius, was appreciated by the 

 collectors for its excellent edible qualities. This was Dr. Smith's best 

 day of the trip from the viewpoint of quantity of material, as he pre- 

 pared 92 numbers of specimens with about eight duplicates of each. 

 In general he obtained this number of duplicate sets, so that the 

 Museum's Department of Botany will have available seven sets of the 

 expedition's plant collections to use for exchange purposes. 



We anchored in Woodbridge Bay, a few miles up the coast, a some- 

 what better roadstead than at Roseau. Here there was a pier for 

 lightering bananas out to the English-bound Martha Reuter. The 

 loading was done with expedition, for here, as everywhere else, time 

 was money. All day long the trucks were discharging heavy loads 

 of bananas alongside natives from the hills, who brought in their one 

 or two stalks upon their heads. In the same fashion the stalks were 

 taken from the storage shed down to the pier to the lighters. All this 

 carrying was done by the women — one stalk to a head and at a rapid 

 walk, often a half trot, because they got so much for each one car- 

 ried. Returning "empty headed," the more ambitious ones came on 

 a run — the more trips the more earned. The steamer was in for only 

 a day and had to leave at midnight. Except for brief pauses for 

 snacks at noon and midafternoon there was no cessation of the work. 



