6 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
portance. Practically all the tillable land is under sugar cane, 
and but few remnants of the forests which once covered the 
island now remain. The annual rainfall is about sixty inches, 
and usually comes in the form of showers during the summer 
months. The dry season occurs in the winter and early spring 
months. ; 
“‘On account of the slight physiographic differentiation, the 
almost uniform state of cultivation and the density of the popula- 
tion, Barbados is not a particularly favorable place for collect- 
ing insects. In addition, practically all the grass land is closely 
grazed by goats and cattle, so that dense growths of vegetation 
are much restricted. In general, the affinities of the insect 
fauna are with that of South America, but a number of North 
American and closely allied forms are to be found. A few 
indigenous forms also occur. 
‘‘The island of Antigua is situated in latitude 17° 6’ N., and 
is the principal island of the Leeward group, of which it is the 
political capital. It is roughly oval in outline, twenty-four miles 
long by about fifteen broad, with an area of 108 square miles 
and a population of about 36,000. The central part of the island 
is low and flat and the soil more or less clayey; the southern and 
southwestern parts, in the vicinity of English Harbor, where 
a large share of the collecting was done, are voleanic and 
mountainous and covered, in many places, with dense forests. 
The greatest elevation is about 1,500 feet. To the north and 
northeast the soil is composed of caleareous marls and coarse 
sandstones. 
‘‘Extended periods of drought often visit the island, and the 
average annual rainfall is a little less than fifty inches. As a 
result of the nature of the soil and the protracted dry periods, 
the uncultivated vegetation is largely of a xerophytic nature. 
However, the soil, where it can be worked at all; is fertile and 
retains well the small amount of moisture. Sugar is the principal 
industry, although corn, yams and pineapples are cultivated on 
a small scale. 
“Antigua is not under so high a state of cultivation as is 
Barbados; neither is it so thickly populated as that island. 
Natural enemies of insects are not numerous. All these con- 
