212 BARBOUR: ZOOGEOGRAPHY. 



a base for several excursions into the neighborhood, spending several days at 

 the edge of the great Cienaga in a house kindly placed at our use by Sr. Fran- 

 cisco Morales. Sr. Morales's cane fields at Colonia San Francisco are on 

 the Rio Hanabana and the enormous saw-grass morasses may be conveniently 

 reached by horse-back. Travel in the swamp is quite a different matter to 

 reaching the edge, however, although it is remarkable to see through how deep 

 mud the horses will carry one before they must be left. The uneven hard sub- 

 stratum upon which the mud, covered with floating vegetation, rests almost 

 in a liquid state makes riding quite exciting and it is not uncommon for one's 

 horse to flounder into a depression almost disappearing in the ooze to be gotten 

 out with some difficulty. 



Crocodilus rhombifer the true Cuban crocodile was abundant about the 

 Laguna de Punta Gorda which was perhaps our most productive collecting 

 ground. 



By the courtesy of Sr. Freyre and Sr. don Miguel Diaz the railways and 

 other means of transport on the great estates of Maria Victoria and Perse- 

 verancia were at our disposal and our hearty thanks are due them for much 

 courtesy and aid. 



We returned to Havana from Aguada and Messrs. Wheeler and Shaw left 

 for the North while Mr. Rodriguez and myself made a short excursion to Matan- 

 zas, Union de Reyes and Alacranes (Alfonso XII). Our object was to secure 

 blind fishes and Crustacea from the caves of the southern part of Matanzas 

 province and in this we were successful. 



Returning again to Havana Professor de la Torre joined us and we started 

 at once for Bayamo. From here we proceeded to Baire by rail and then by horse- 

 back to the village of Los Negros where we stayed some time and to Pozo 

 Prieto. Near the latter locality we spent several days at the cafetal El Alto of 

 Sr. Pedro Diaz which was a fine locality in the heart of the humid forest region 

 of the Sierra Maestra. Returning to Bayamo our party divided, Senor Rod- 

 riguez going to Bueycito and the region of the Pan de Azucar while Professor de 

 la Torre and myself went to Manzanillo and by various stages south to Cabo 

 Cruz. Here the successful search was made for Cricosaura and Tarentola. 

 After this trip we went back to Manzanillo, to San Luis and then to Guan- 

 tanamo. Here we stayed with Mr. C. T. Ramsden whose study of Cuban birds 

 is well known. A return to Bayamo and Havana with a few short days there 

 together with Mrs. Barbour, who came down to meet me ended a most 

 charming and profitable trip. Our collection was small but the common 



