MILLIPEDS OF THE WEST INDIES AND GUIANA COL- 

 LECTED BY THE ALLISON V. ARMOUR 

 EXPEDITION IN 1932 



By H. F. LOOMIS 



Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture 



(With Four Plates) 



INTRODUCTION 



During the first three months of 1932 the writer visited many of 

 the Bahama and West Indian islands, and British and Dutch Guiana, 

 while a member of the AlHson V. Armour Expedition engaged in 

 collection of seeds and plants for introduction into the United States. 

 In the course of the expedition 30 islands were touched, many of 

 which have been little explored by naturalists, the information on 

 their flora and fauna being exceedingly fragmentary or entirely lack- 

 ing. Although the time allotted to any of the islands or countries 

 was very limited and was devoted principally to making general sur- 

 veys and gathering material of the outstanding plants, it usually was 

 found possible to spare a few moments to search for members of 

 the humus fauna, particularly the millipeds, at each stop. In spite of 

 the incidental opportunities for such collecting the final results were 

 very satisfactory. New localities for many previously known milli- 

 peds were recorded, over two dozen undescribed species were dis- 

 covered/ and interesting observations on environmental conditions and 

 general distribution were made at first hand. 



In the Bahamas the islands of New Providence, Cat, Conception, 

 Mariguana, Great Inagua, and Rum Cay were visited, and the humus 

 fauna was found to be very sparse, probably from a number of con- 

 tributing causes. Most of the islands of the Bahamas are low and of 

 limestone formation which drains rapidly, and the vegetation is seldom 

 dense enough to provide material for large accumulations of humus. 

 Rains are strictly seasonal, and long periods of drought are experi- 



^ Several of these forms had previously been found in Haiti, and descriptions 

 were prepared for a paper on Haitian millipeds. These descriptions are included 

 in this paper, but when the specimens collected by the Armour Expedition came 

 from some other island, the Haitian type locality has been allowed to remain. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 89, No. 14 



