Contributions to tlie Fauna of the Bahamas 



7 



John J. Northrop has studied the natural history of tlie Bahamas (Andros 

 and New Providence) and given notes al)()ut the hirds (The Åwk 1891), as well as 

 about the geology of the islands (Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sei. Vol. 10, 1890). 



C. B. Cory has visited the islands several times especially for studies about 

 the birds, about which he has written some papers. 



Mayek, Wood, Ebell, Chapman, Edwards, Fr. Stearns, Whietfield, Plate, 

 Davenport and many other naturalists have for short periods visited the Bahamas. 

 Some of the animals collected b}'^ them have been described by themselves or by 

 other scientists, as Bendall (mollusks). Baker (moUuks), Henderson (shells), Pils- 

 BRY (shells), Perkins (cladonema), Spengel (Ptychodera bahamensis) and others. 



B. The Physiography of the Bahamas. 



The great sea between North and South America, the American Mediterranean, 

 is divided into four deep basins, the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the 

 two seas lying between Cuba and Yucatan. These basins are bounded not only 

 on the west by the land mass connecting the two parts of America, but also on the 

 east by a broad bank running from Florida to the east of South America. Though 

 this bank is submerged, it is nevertheless of a great hydrographie importance as 

 preventing the bottom-water of the Atlantic from getting over into the basins named. 

 The four basins are separeted from each other by similar banks, one running from 

 the western end of Cuba to the east end of Yucatan, another, a very narrow one, 

 from Cape Cruz at the south eastern end of Cuba towards the Gulf of Honduras 

 and the third from Haiti via Jamaica to the Peninsula of Honduras. None of these 

 banks are cpite continuous : they liave all been broken by erosion at several points, 

 thus forming narrow channels between the different parts. The portions of these 

 banks which now rise above the surface of the water and the deposits on them 

 form what is called the West Indian Islands. The Bahamas form the part which 

 is situated on the northern part of the bank from Florida to South America. (Map. I.) 



The physiography of the Bahamas has been studied very well. Alexander 

 Agassiz made a trip on the »Wild Duck» to the islands in 1893, studying the for- 

 mation of the various islands and has given a detailed description ^ of them. Before 

 him two other geologist visited the islands and made observations about the geology 

 of the Archipelago, Captain R. J. Nelson ^ (1853) and Dr. John I. Northrop^ (1890). 

 The Bahamas are also taken into consideration in Spencer's * studies about the 

 Antillean Continent. Important work has recently been done on this question by the 



' A Reconnoissance of the Bahamas. — Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Vol. 24 (1894). 

 ^ On the Geology of the Bahamas. — Quart. Jouru. Geol. Soc. London. Vol. 9 (1853). 

 ' Notes on the Geology of the Bahamas. — Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sei. Vol. 10 (1890). 

 " Reconstruction of the Antillean Continent. — Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. Vol. 6 (1895) and 

 Resemblance between the Declivities of High Plateaus and those of Submarine Antillean Valley. 

 — Trans. Canad. Inst. Vol. 5 (1898). 



