SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I928 79 



in love with the island and, instead of continuing his journey west- 

 ward, remained here for the rest of his days excepting a short stay 

 in Porto Rico during one of Cuha's pohtical upheavals. Gundlach 

 is in reality the father of Cuban natural history, for through his etYorts 

 probably more organisms of the island were made known than through 

 those of all the other naturalists taken together. The visit to Fundador 

 therefore was in reality a pilgrimage to an historic shrine. The old 

 walls are still standing, but the picturesque palm thatched roof has 

 given way to the ever-evident American corrugated iron. The fields 

 once teeming with coffee plantations are now only grazing grounds, 

 but the old Ceiba tree beneath whose shade our naturalists must have 

 foregathered, was still standing in the foreground, while through the 

 feathery tops of royal palms Pan Palenque and Pan Matanzas rear 

 their towering blue masses in the distance above the plain, and beckon 

 as they did in the days of long ago. We secured topotypes of all 

 Pfeiffer's species but one. 



Yumeri Valley, designated l)y Baron von Humboldt as the most 

 beautiful in the world, was next subjected to a close scrutiny. The rim 

 of limestone mountains encompassing this valley harbors an exceed- 

 ingly rich molluscan fauna. Of particular interest were the inhabitants 

 of the small mogotes, the blocks of limestone frequently separated only 

 by a stone's throw from the main ridge, and yet containing a faunula 

 distinct from the parent range. One of these small blocks not larger 

 than an ordinary house, harl)ors the exquisite Chojuiropouia prcs- 

 sasiana. 



In Santa Clara Province we worked westward from Sagua La 

 Grande to Coralillo along the north coast, and east to El Purio near 

 Calabazar. From Remedio we worked the hills all about, south to 

 Zuluete and Los Sierras, and north to Caibarien and along the coast 

 range from Caibarien to the Sierra de Jatibonico. 



After excursions from Vega Alta as far north as Calabazar and 

 south to Trinidad, our party set out for Camaguay Province. From 

 Punta Allegre we secured passage on a little sailing schooner for 

 Turigano Island. This was a marvelous cruise, threading our way 

 through intricate channels among the numerous mangrove islaufls and 

 endless mud flats teeming with flocks of gorgeous flamingoes, a number 

 of species of herons and terns, as well as ibises and cormorants. 



At Turigano the staff of the American Company that has placed 

 the island under plantain cultivation assisted in every way to make 

 our stay a success. Here we discovered a brilliantly orange-colored 

 Liguus which is most likely the ancestor of the orange element in the 



