SRrrnisoNiAX exit-orations, tq-^o tot 



Caribl)eaii Sea. The visitation of last year's destructive hurricane 

 had materially reduced the numlier of schooners and those not lost 

 were mostly securely hauled high and dry in protected places to 

 render them safe against another blow. Then too, few skippers cared 

 to visit what most of them termed the birthplace of hurricanes during 

 the hurricane season — the wet season about to begin. It should be 

 remembered that the rainy season is the only time when successful 

 land mollusk collecting may be undertaken for during the rest of the 

 year these animals estivate, tucked away in rock crevices or holes in 

 trees or even buried in the ground from which they may be ol)tained 

 in small numbers and with great difficulty only — while in the wet 

 season they are out and moving about in the open and therefore 

 easily cai)ture(l. Thanks to the good offices of the Ca])tain of the 

 Port and Sehor Moreno of San Juan, I fuially chartered the schooner 

 (luillcniiito from Sr. Tomas Pionancj, its captain and owner, for a 

 tvvo-and-( )ne-hal f-month-cruise. 



The fact that local and federal Government officials were actively 

 on the hunt for a suitable vessel left me free to a considerable extent 

 to do collecting in the eastern part of Porto Rico — territory that I had 

 not thoroughly explored on my visit to the island in 1921. Thanks 

 to the help of Dr. William H. Hoffman of the School of Tropical 

 Medicine who joined me on many of these expeditions and placed his 

 car at my disposal, I was able to examine the entire eastern mountain 

 complex including even a visit to the summit of El Yunque. I was able 

 to explore many of the limestone hills of the north range between San 

 Juan and Arecibo, all of which yielded an abundance of interesting 

 and important land mollusks. 



July 3 and 4 were spent in an exploration of the island of Vieques 

 where deforestation, cattle grazing and other agricultural pursuits 

 have wiped out most of its mollusk fauna, leaving only those species 

 that are capable of existing under the conditions produced by man. 



The conditioning and provisioning of the Guillennito being com- 

 pleted, we set sail for the islands to the south. Our force consisted 

 of Dr. William H. Hoffman and his assistant Mr. J. Oliver, Capt. 

 Bonano, mate, two sailors and a cook. 



After a brief stop at Culebra Island I spent one day exploring St. 

 Thomas Island, and on July 13 we came to anchor in Hurricane 

 Harbor at the east end of St. John. The next day I climbed to the 

 summit of Mt. Bordeaux where, after passing out of the lowland 

 torrid cactus-fringe zone. I found very good collecting in the tropical 

 forest, particularly near the summit where the Bay Rum tree 

 (Arnomis caryopJiyllafa) grows, from whose leaves the aromatic oils 



