94 BULLETIN : MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



in length, in from nine to fifteen fathoms of water. The bank is said to 

 consist of sand and of coral. South of Mira por vos Bank rises the 

 peak of Brown Bank (Kansas Bank), which has from ten to twenty- 

 three fathoms of water on it. Both these banks drop abruptly into deep 

 water from the 100 fathom line, close to the soundings indicated. 



A number of other small banks have also been reported, but their 

 position is doubtful. They are Cuidado Bank, south of Mariguana, the 

 Clarion Bank, south of Mathew Town (Inagua), the Fawn Shoal, south 

 of Turk's Island, and the Severn Shoal, to the northeast of Silver Bank. 

 It is not astonishing that, in a district where the currents are so strong 

 and so variable, it should be difficult to find the position of reported 

 shoals, the original positions of which are generally very inaccurate. 



Mariguana, the Plana Cays, and Samana. 



Plate I. ; Plate IX. Fig. 4. 



On account of the strength of the trades we did not visit Mariguana, 

 Samana Island, or the Plana Cays. The highest point of Mariguana is 

 stated to be a hundred and one feet, and at the east end there are several 

 hummocks of from forty to sixty feet. The hills, I am informed, consist 

 of the regular Bahamian aeolian rocks, and the same rocks also occur on 

 the Plana Cays. The north shore of Mariguana is skirted for its whole 

 length by a reef. The west shore is bold, and the 100 fathom line of the 

 bank is close to the land. The south shore, with the exception of a reef 

 which protects Abraham Bay, is clear; the bottom is covered with clean 

 sand. At Southeast Point a reef of nearly nine miles in length extends 

 to the easternmost extremity of the spit formed by the bank off the east- 



r-.. Plana Cays 



Lat. 22° 40' N. ; Long. 73° 34' W. 



ern face of the island. The reef is close to the 100 fathom line on the 

 south side of the spit, but on the north side it is half a mile distant. 



The eastern side of the "West Plana Cay is fringed by a reef, while both 

 the north and south sides of East Cay are skirted by a reef about a third 

 of a mile from the shore, and extending nearly five miles off the east end. 



