Contribnlions lo the Fauna of the Bahamas 



19 



merous mosquitoes and sand flies. Several species of mosquitoes are found, among 

 which also the yellow-fever carrier {Stegomyia fasciata), while the malaria mosquito 

 (Anopheles) has not yet been observed. At the end of the summer there are some 

 animals that attract attention more than anything else, the land crabs. Two forms 

 occur, the yellowish brown Cardisoma, by the natives called the »white crab», and 

 the purplish black Gecarcinus («the black crab»). At this time of the year these 

 crabs migrate in vast numbers to the sea to lay their spawn. The beach may on 

 such occasions be seen almost covered 

 with them. At other times of the year 

 they crawl about in the interior of the 

 islands or dwell in the holes in the 

 rocks filled with rain water. An other 

 land crab is a hermit crab, crawling 

 along with a shell very often belonging 

 to a marine form. 



As far as the land fauna 

 hitherto has been studied, it 

 has been plainly shown that it 

 is derived from that of Cuba 

 and Haiti. That some birds 

 and other flying animals have 

 also reached the islands from 

 Florida cannot be regarded as 

 surprising. 



Fig. K. From a Mangrove-bight (Mastic Point, 

 Andros). 



(b) The Fauna in Fresh and Braekish Waters. 



As has been mentioned before, no streams are to be found in the Bahamas. 

 Of large fresh waters there is only one lake on Andros, the fauna of which has not 

 yet been studied. During the summer rainwater is gathered for a short time in holes 

 in the rocks and becomes a breeding place for mosquitoes and tadpoles. The rock is 

 very porous however and this makes almost all bodies of water more or less brackish. 

 Brackish ponds, sometimes very large, as for instance along the west side of Andros, 

 are very numerous. Some of them are connected with the sea by small channels, 

 others are so connected only trough the porosity of the rock. In these ponds the 

 fauna is rather poor, a few fishes, as the Cyprinodont Gamhusia affims, shads 

 [Gerridce] or swelling fishes [Sphéroïdes], several shells and so on. In some of the 

 ponds, which for any considerable time have been cut off from direct connection 



