SMITHSONIAN-BREDIN EXPEDITION—SCHMITT 423 
feet. of birds and so be carried far and wide, or else may be blown 
for considerable distances by strong winds or hurricanes. Could 
the bats possibly play a part in the transport of cave animals? It 
does not seem very likely in the case of the animals before us, but 
studies of flights and migration of banded specimens of bats in New 
England have brought to light the fact that some individuals have 
“traveled” as much as 125 to 156 miles from the place where they 
were banded. But bats are known for their clean feet and claws. 
When not in alarmed flight, the squeaking host of bats overhead 
festooned the irregularities of the higher reaches of the cavern, and 
had it not been for Dr. Clarke’s handiness with his insect net, we 
might not have captured a single specimen, traveling as we were on 
this occasion without firearms of any description. A few deft swipes 
and some scratching with his long-handled net in accessible niches 
overhead obtained for us at least six of them. 
The bats from Dark Cave, Brachyphylla cavernarum by name, Dr. 
Charles O. Handley, Jr., National Museum’s associate curator of mam- 
mals, tells me are an omnivorous species, eating fruit and insects, and 
as far as known confined to the West Indian islands. In the 
Museum’s collection we have specimens from six of them: Dominica, 
Puerto Rico, St. Croix, Barbuda, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent. 
On the way home from Dark Cave our guides made a slight detour 
so that we might take in Bryant Cave. This we found to be an 
exceedingly wet and slimy sink under a deeply undercut cliff. The 
thoroughly overshadowed pool at its foot appeared devoid of animal 
life except for a few aquatic insects and numerous tiny black snails 
leaving little trails behind them as they crawled over the bottom, 
which appeared to be largely a muddy, yellowish-greenish bac- 
terial(?) and algal slime. The Museum’s associate curator of 
mollusks, Dr. J. P. E. Morrison, says they are a new species of the 
genus Littoridinops, family Hydrobiidae. Although there was con- 
siderable diffused light, no direct sunlight seems ever to reach this 
sinkhole’s dank depths. 
Another cave visited the next day was Darby Cave, which turned 
out to be another great sinkhole. Originally it must have been an 
exceedingly large cavern, the roof of which had collapsed. The 
result was an impressive amphitheater, 70 feet in depth and 400 feet 
across. Its expanse was crowded with the lush green tops of tall 
trees and magnificent palms, a veritable rain-forest in this otherwise 
desiccated and arid-looking land. In its dryness at the time of our 
visit, and in its wealth of cacti and thorny acacias and other xero- 
phytic plants, Barbuda again reminded me of the dry season in the 
Galipagos. But Barbuda is, underneath it all, well watered. One 
can dig a well almost anywhere and strike water. The several caves 
