BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). . 101 



IV. A map of a large part of the island. 



A full report on the Expedition with many coloured plates 

 and illustrations will shortly be published, the Committee of 

 the Liverpool Museum generously bearing the entire cost. 



Exploration of West Indian Islands by Dr. Gregory. 



Special leave of absence for a fortnight, in addition to his 

 usual vacation, was granted to Dr. J. W. Gregory, Assistant 

 in the Geological Department, to enable him, whilst spending 

 his holiday in Antigua, to visit and explore the neighbouring 

 small island of Anguilla, and study its extinct fauna. This 

 island, though once a flourishing British Colony, has now 

 been abandoned by whites, and the only regular communica- 

 tion with it is by a monthly sloop. Being unable to use this 

 boat within the time at his disposal. Dr. Gregory chartered a 

 small sloop at Antigua, whence he sailed on the 21st April. 

 On the v/ay to Anguilla he called at Barbuda to examine 

 some caves there, in the hope of finding in them some remains 

 of Amhlyrhiza (a fossil rodent). The floor of the caves 

 is a solid stalagmite, so that an exhaustive search was 

 impossible. He obtained, however, the jaws, teeth, vertebrae, 

 and limb -bones of a new mammal Yv'hich Dr. Forsyth Major 

 has identified as most nearly allied to a South American 

 species of Oryzomys. The age of the Barbuda limestones is 

 uncertain, but he collected a series of fossils which should 

 definitely settle that question. He also obtained a collection 

 of botanical and zoological specimens. 



After a rough and slow passage from Barbuda, Dr. Gregory 

 reached Crocus Bay, his landing-place on Anguilla, on the 

 25th April, and immediately began inquiries about former 

 phosphate working in the island. His hopes of finding 

 remains of Amhlyrhiza were small, as the locality from 

 which the specimens came was uncertain. The genus had 

 l)een founded by Cope on some fragments of bone and teeth 

 which were obtained by accident from material shipped to 

 Philadelphia from the West Indies more than 30 years ago. 

 Cope makes four contradictory statements as to the locality 

 "whence the material came. He says, in different places, that 

 it came from the Virgin Islands, from a Danish island, and 

 from Anguilla, and the only precise locality he gives is 

 Simpson's Bay. But Anguilla is not one of the Virgin 

 Islands ; it has never been Danish ; and Simpson's Bay is 

 not on it, but on the Dutch part of St. Martin's. 



There are many caves on Anguilla, and Dr. Gregory's first 

 three days on the island were occupied in digging in caves at 

 Oartouche Bay, Shoal Bay, and Flat Cap Point, but he could 

 Und no trace of bones. But on the south-west shore of the 

 island he found a thin vein of red sandstone from the surface 



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