NO L7, SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1916 39 
billed Tody (Todus angustirostris) were obtained near Constanza, 
where it replaces the ordinary Tody (7. subulatus) of the lower 
country. A very rare siskin (Loximitris dominicensis), peculiar to 
the island and hitherto represented in the Museum only by the type 
of the species, was found at El Rio. 
One of the commonest and most conspicuous birds, and one 
restricted to the island, is the Palm Chat (Dulus dominicus), sole 
member of the family Dulidz, whose systematic position is in doubt. 
It is a species of peculiar habits and traits; its manner of nesting, 
for example, is quite unlike that of any other known American bird. 
The members of a colony (these birds are gregarious) construct a 
large mass of sticks and small twigs, within which they build their 
nests. Dr. Abbott collected skeletons and specimens in alcohol, to 
serve as a basis for further investigations into the affinities of the 
family. 
The series of birds totalled about two hundred and fifty specimens, 
of fifty or more species, over thirty of which are peculiar to the 
island. The indigenous species of this island have long constituted 
the Museum’s chief desiderata among the birds of the West Indies, 
hence Dr. Abbott's collection has proved of the greatest interest, 
aside from the special discoveries mentioned above. 
Cas. W. RICHMOND. 
DREDGING FOR MARINE INVERTEBRATES OFF THE FLORIDA 
KEYS 
In May 1916, Mr. John B. Henderson, a regent of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, conducted a series of dredgings from his yacht 
Eolis off Key West, Florida. Owing to exceptionally good weather 
conditions and to the fact that the Gulf Stream had receded much 
farther off shore than is usual, the party was enabled to carry on 
most successful operations upon the Pourtales Plateau. This is a 
strip of rocky bottom off the Florida Keys extending some forty or 
fifty miles and lying between the depths of 100 to 200 fathoms. It 
is one of the richest localities in American waters with a fauna 
peculiarly its own. Owing to the great difficulty of dredging over 
the rocky floor swept by the maximum current of the Gulf Stream, 
but little attempt has been made to explore it since the work done 
there by Pourtales, fifty years ago. The material collected covers 
all groups of marine invertebrates. 
COLLECTING IN WESTERN CUBA 
In the last few years, numerous collecting trips to western Cuba 
have been made by Mr. Henderson, usually accompanied by some 
