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UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY
NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
FREER GALLERY OF ART
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
ALL CORRESPONDENCE
SHOULD BE ADDRESSED Washington, €SA.
TO THE SECRETARY ~ ’
January, 1937
Friends and Correspondents
of the Smithsonian Institution:
The bearer of this letter, Dr. E. A. Chapin is
Curator of Insects on the staff of the United States
National Museum.
Dr. Chapin is visiting Jamaica in pursuance of his
official duties and the Smithsonian Institution will
greatly appreciate any wud tanies or facilities which
‘may be extended to him in this connection.
fe
ecretary
Very truly yours
Jane
Jane
Cuba and Jamaica - 1937.
2l- 24. On board the United Fruit boat "Quirigua",.
Left New York just after noon, in slight fog. Found
stateroom and roommate who is John McKeown, Winnetka,
Tll., a civil engineer (Univ. of Illinois, 1915). He
was an aviator in the last war and lost leg in crash
in France. Usual occupational facilities available,-
shuffleboard, deck quoits, putting, table tennis,
walking, sitting on deck, etc,
The gulls which have followed us from New York
left our boat sometime during the night of the 22nd. _
On the 23rd much Sargasso weed was visible, occurring |
in large brown patches, some of which seemed to be as
much as a hundred feet across. Flying fishes were
also becoming common but were somewhat of a disappoint-
ment because of their small size, the larger ones |
being hardly more than a foot long. They volplane for
considerable distances and occasionally appear to run
up a wave for a new take-off after making a long
initial flight.
24. Docked at Habana at exactly 6 PM. Dr. Aguayo,
whom I had already met in Washington, came aboard with
the immigration authority. As soon as I received a
permit to land, we went ashore where we found S. C.
Bruner and Le C. Scaramuzza waiting. The four of us
went first to “Sloppy Joe's" for Daiquiri cocktails,
the a short sightseeing trip about Habana. Aguayo
chartered a ford, which is Cuban for taxi, to take
us along Prado and out El Malacon as far as Vedado
and then back to the restaurant "El Patio", facing
on the Prado, for dinner. El Malecon is a very beau-
tiful boulevard or shore drive. It extends from La
Punta, which is the point of land extending toward
El Morro, west along the shore to beyond Vedado, in
all several miles. From La Punta in toward the center
of the city runs El Prado, a beautiful avenue with a
magnificent shaded terrace which divides the two lanes
of traffic. At the head of Prado stands the ornate
Capitolio, the seat of the Cuban government.
Dinner at El Patio was excellent and bountiful;
I had fruit cup, soup, fish, steak, salad and coffee.
By the end of the salad course there was no room left
for the dessert, so it was omitted. It was 9.40 PM
when we left the table and we immediately started by
ford to call on Alex. Bierig, in Vedado. We found him
in and talked about beetles, especially Staphylinidae, —
until nearly midnight. Bierig is an artist and E
pki ity ee
——— = a
J ~ et
7 ied *2> oe an ~ = Ts ow =
i = ~ ~~)... 3 ae
Ee eee
a oe > ie a ee =
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El Morro, at entrance of Habana harbor.
1074 (9-32)
(
o , UNITED FRUIT COMPANY
TARJETA DE IDENTIFICACION DE PASAJERO DE TRANSITO POR CUBA
IDENTIFICATION CARD OF PASSENGER IN TRANSIT THROUGH CUBA
Nombre del pasajero............. TNR |: SAINT eo coat esol os lscl culls aaa
Name of passenger ‘anh
my het Eo | ey A Re ai ii ‘ + y 3 .
Nacionalidad............... A WIE LES AAS Nombre del Vapor........... ys te Ramen
Nationality Name of Steamer
Manifiesto No................- 1 Aa ROO eae pee A doe Partida No..............00.0- 9 ATE De
Manifest No. Line No. mm >
NEW YOR!
Puerto de procedencia del Pasajero. oo... ccccccececseneeeeee erste es ensteeesensecssteeneeseraeesensenseneerey
Port of origin of the passenger
AVISO: Esta tarjeta solamente es valida mientras el barco esté en puerto, si zarpase dejando el
pasajero en tierra, deber& presentarse inmediatamente en las Oficinas de Inmigracion.
NOTICE: This card is only valid while the ship isin port. _If ship sails leaving the holder psc should
be presented immediately to the Immigration Office.
JAN 94 1937 rowe™
Firma del pasaj ey a mn Aeveert Bi Aereey pr 7 ;
senger’s signature Purser
Permit to go ashore while boat is in port.
Jane
iN
3
amateur entomologist. The walls of his apartment were
crowded with oil paintings, most of which were very
pleasing to me. Landscapes and farming scenes were the
most common subjects depicted. Bierig's collection
was large, was housed in well over a hundred schmitt
boxes and was reasonably completely identified. However,
I noted that certain easy species in Oxyporus were mis-
identified and therefore I would not be too ready to
accept Bierig's identifications of old species.
25 At 8.30 AM, Scaramuzza, Malberti and Navarrete
came onto the boat and found me finishing my breakfast.
The coffee.that I had consumed the previous evening
had prevented me from sleeping until nearly four this
morning and I was still a bit groggy. Senor Malberti
came from the Secretariat of Agriculture and was attached
to me because I had expressed a wish to visit the agri-
cultural station at Santiago de las Vegas. Senor Navarret
came from the Secretariat of Education and was attached
to me because I wished to see the Gundlach collection,
now under the care of that office. A car and chauffeur
had been placed at my disposal for the duration of my
stay in Cuba by the Secretary of Education. We went
first to the Instituto de la Habana where the Gundlach
collection is housed. The Institute has been closed
for four years and the doors leading into the collection
room were sealed. Bruner joined us and after some delay
the proper official, escorted by a squad of policemen,
arrived to break the seals and let us in. Although the
building itself has been closed, the patio has been used
by the Secretariat of Justice for use in registration
of aliens and other purposes. As the boxes which hold
the Gundlach collection are individually sealed, the
examination of a specimen must be made through the glass
top of the box at a distance of about two inches. Two
hours was sufficient to go over the Scarabaeidae and I
consider the time well spent. Among the specimens of
Ligyrus tumulosus I noted a single specimen of the new
speciesof Dynastine from Oriente Province. It seems to
be the same sex as mine and therefore no special impor-
tance to me. Bruner had been checking on some of the
Hemiptera during this time and was now ready to go.
After a very good luncheon at a restaurant not far
from El Capitolio, we were driven to the University of
Havana to call on Dr Aguayo and to see his collections
and the layout of his department. We also saw some of
the construction work on the new Zoology building. A
Representative of the Press took photographs of our
Left to right ;
Dr. Ce G Aguayo, Professor of Zoology, Universidad
de la Habana.
Mr. S. C. Bruner, Chief of the Section of Entomology,
Estacidén Experimental. Agronomica de
Cuba at Santiago de las Vegas.
Ee Ae Co
Mr. G Navarrete, Inspector Técnico de la Secretarfa
de Educacién, Habana.
Mr. Le C. Scaramuzza, Assistant Entomologist, Estacidén
Experimental Agronomica de Cuba,
at Santiago de las Vegas.
Mr. S. Veldsquez,
Photo by press photographer at the University, Jan. 25, 1937.
party at the side of the steps of the present Zoology
building. a
After this short visit to the university, we started
out into the country to go to Santiago de las Vegas,
where the Estacién Experimental Agronomica de Cuba is
located. The station building was originally a Spanish
military barracks and after the war it was reroofed and
refloored and turned over to the Department of Agricul-
ture. It is a huge square building containing or sur-
rounding a large square patio which is used for an
arboretum of palm species. Other species of palms are
found outside of the building and the avenue of Royal
Palms which leads from the main road to the entrance
of the station is excellent. |
Within the building the station staff have very
Spacious quarters, I would guess close to 600 sq. ft.
per person. The collection is housed in schmitt boxes
stored in Brock cases. I went over the material in ©
Scarabaeidae, Tenebrionidae and Coccinellidae. Made
a few identifications of species that I was sure of
and pinned out a few things to be sent to me in Wash-
ington when I get back.
Scaramuzza took me outside so that I could see the
rearing cages where the station work on pests is mostly _
carried on. Sugar, pineapples and bananas seem to be
the most important crops though I think coconuts rate
high. In one small cage Scara had a pet mongoose that
was fed on small lizards (of which there is no scarcity
in Cuba). A mongoose looks like and is about the same
size as a weasel, to which it is remotely related.
The animal was brought into the West Indies to control
the rats in the cane fields and coconut walks. There
are still rats on the islands where the mongoose has
been introduced but the native ground fauna, composed
of species less shrewd than rats, has suffered severely.
It is only a question of a few years before some of
the species of lizards and birds are exterminated.
On the way back we ran into a sudden shower that
caused the pavements to become very slippery. Our
driver took us through very carefully but we did see
an Agriculture Department station wagon crashed in the
ditch. All occupants had been taken to the hospital.
We drove straight to the Secretariat but could get no
news as to the present condition of the victims. From
the Secretariat we drove to the dock where I made my
good-byes to Bruner and Scaramuzzs. We sailed from
Havana at 7 PM bound for Kingston, Jamaica.
Estacién Experimental Agronomica de Cuba, Santiago de
las Vegas.
Avenue of Royal Palms (Roystonia regia) leading to
entrance of station building.
n heed sh de utdilay
bs
Werte s*“
7
Jan. 27. When I went on deck at 7 AM I found that we were
off the south coast of Jamaica, somewhere west of Kingston.
A small town, probably Black River though possibly Savanna-
La-Mar, was in sight. The prospect was anything but pleasant.
The hills were burned brown and only the occasional coconut
or banana walk showed green. It was hard to believe that there
would be any good collecting on the island if this was a fair
sample of the conditions. About 1 PM we came about to enter
Kingston harbor, the quarantine boat met us and the pilot came
on board. I noticed my first pelicans, one on each spile in
the channel. We docked at 3 PM and Dick and Ruth were there
to greet me. Baggage was passed without question, a represen-
tative of the Gleaner asked me for a story, the three of us
were photographed and the formalities were over. Dick had a
car already hired from Masterfon and we loaded the baggage in
and started to Mrs. Wooler's at 5 Cargill Ave., Half Way Tree.
Dick and Ruth have the large front room (at the left of the
sitting porch), just behind them is the bath and I have a
smaller room just beyond the bath. Mrs. Wooler is very pleas-
ant. She has been recently widowed and is continuing living
in Jamaica at the earnest requests of the children. Eleanor
is the oldest, she has taken a place in the Jamaica Automobile
Association which certainly supports herself; Hazel, younger
than Eleanor and perhaps younger than Boydie, has a small
position in Kingston; Boydie, the older boy about 17 yrs. old
is head of the house and has a job and finally Mannie, about
thirteen, is still in school but will have to stop and find
work soon. Mr Nethersole, in the Jamaica Life Assurance Soce-
iety, has promised help in finding some for him. Mrs. Wooler
takes PG s, (paying guests) and will undoubtedly have no trouble
in keeping the house full. I am paying three guineas a week
y
Z
ee ee ee - a “ eee ene inane
———————— ee ee
8
for the room and four meals. Tea certainly should
count as a meal for there are almost alweys sand-
wiches, cake and tea, We put my baggage away and
tea was served.
After tea, I remembered that I had forgotten to
leave my stateroom key so we drove down to the dock
with it. Then out to Hope Gardens to call on Edwards.
Found him busy so we looked around a bit and then went
back to the Wooler's. A very good dinner was served
at 7.50 PM and afterward we all sat on the front porch
and talked until 11.30 PM. To bed under a mosquito bar.
It does not pay to screen houses on the island because
the air is mostly damp and salt. So each bed is fitted
with its own protective screen. To make the screen, one
takes a good sized barrel hoop and attaches short ropes
at the ends of the right diagonals. Then a sheet of mos-
quito netting is prepared about 25 ft. long by 7 ft. wide.
The 25 ft. length is then attached to the hoop with many
deep pleats so that it passes one and a half times around
The hoop is closed by a circle of cloth, the ropes are
drawn up and tied to serve as a support and the whole
contraption is suspended above the center of the bed,
When the bed is madeup, the bottom edge of the mosquito
net is tucked in under the mattress arid there is a three
foot overlap along one side through which the occupant
can enter. Properly adjusted, it certainly does keep
the skeeters out.
The lawn at Hope Gardens, looking toward the admin-
istration building. The roadway is at the right and
is bordered by palms of various species, Other spec-
imen trees are planted along the outer border.
9
Jan. 28 First went into town
to get some money changed into
English and to make a few pur-
chases. Ordered a light suit
for social purposes, was meas-
ured and will have my first fite
ting tomorrow. Also bought. a
Wostenholm IXL pocket knife, a
helmet and a dozen pony glasses
for traps. Next we ran up to
Hope Gardens where we collected
a few spiders and other things.
Sweeping didn't seem very good,
everything too dry. So we went
over to the Entomologist's Office
to meet Mr W. He Edwards. He has
a single large room on the main ~
floor of the building and perhaps
some space on the floor above.
Very little equipment and one
assistant, a Mr Dixon. Edwards
was the Government Entomologist
on Mauritius before he came to
Jamaica, apparently to follow
C. Co. Gowdey. Edwards proved to
be very pleasant and promised as
much help as he would be allowed to give. He then took us
in to meet the Director of Agriculture. The Director is cer~
tainly the original Pain-in-the-Neck. He stood up to re-
ceive us (quite properly but he didn't neet to be so formal
about it) and hoped that we would have a pleasant and profit-
able sojourn on the island; that we would realize that his
men were very busy =. "
and should not be
disturbed too much
We assured him
that we did not SS
wish to be bother- ———
some and would not —
ask for any favors
except in case of
dire necessity. We
left and when we
got outside, Edwards
apologised for the
old fool and said
he would help us all
that he possibly
could. He then in-
vited us to take ai
cocktails at his
home the following Entomology Laboratory
We He Edwards
10
Sunday at 5.50 PM. We drove around the grounds ~
a bit before starting back to town. Dick called
my attention to the aquaduct which carries water
from Hope River for use in the Gardens. It was
first constructed by the Spaniards and has stood
the years so well that it was necessary only to
top it with a concrete trough to make it quite
serviceable. The water stream is about 18 inches
=,
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nes %," aan tg —— ~ Ne
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. wae a = at ge - oy st
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= * i ro y
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Old Spanish aquaduct still in use at Hope Gardens.
wide and 6 to 8 inches deep. It flows very swiftly
and must pass a large quantity of water in 24 hours.
On our way back to town we were caught in the
worst storm of the season. The rain came down so hard
that the road filled above the curbs in spite of the
storm sewers. The rain lasted for just a few minutes
and we then took the car to Masterton to have the
plugs dried. After dinner we went out with flash
light and took a good series of cricket, some Black
Widows, a few specimens of an ant (Cryptocerus sp.)
which were running up and down the trunk of a Lignum
Vitae. The shade trees along Cargill Ave. are mostly
Lignum Vitaes and are very beautiful. They flower
branch by branch, rather than all over at once; the
flowers are about an inch across, pale bluish laven-
der with orange center, and with not much odor.
Lignum Vitae honey is well spoken of; we did not have
any. One of the trees in the side yard was dying and
Boydie cut off one of the larger branches so that I
could have an 18 in. section to take home.
ll
Jan. 29. First thing in the morning had a fitting at
Nathan's; can have suit tomorrow. Back to the house
and while Dick worked over some of the notes, I took
a sweeping net and worked over the row of Gunga pea
vines. Gunga pea seems to be one of the ever-bearing
varieties of legume and the peas resemble Black-eyed
rather than Green. Very little to be found except
one species of thrips that was very abundant in the
flowers. After luncheon Dick and I went to Ferry R.
(Fresh R. on map) for our first real collecting.
Started to tear bark off a standing dead tree about
three feet in diameter and got a surprise. Six or
eight roaches, each about three inches long, flew out
as soon as the bark was disturbed. On the trunk under
the bark was a scorpion perhaps two and a half inches
long and a couple of villainous looking but harmless
tailless whip scorpions. Also a few beetles. I don't
put my bare fingers under loose bark any more. Saw
many pseudoscorpions but most of them got away before
I could get at them. Found some recent dung in road
and dug out a good series of Oniticellus cubiensis
(Cast. ) and some Aphodiinae. Sifting was not good as
the top soil and forest floor are completely dried out.
Set some traps baited with molasses. Returned for tea.
This is Dick's birthday and Ruth and Mrs. Wooler had a
birthday cake and ice cream ready. After tea, the three
of us ran up to the bridge across the small stream
above Gordontown. Good series of a whirligig beetle,
Dineutes sp., and a ptilodactylid, the latter actually
in the water. As soon as dusk set in, we put up the
net over the car and drove back slowly. Made a good
catch of small things, including many Staphylinidae.
After supper took flashlight and went after fireflies,
Took a series in the field back of the house. There was
a fine bunch of a blue tenebrionid, Tarpela mutabilis
Waterh. on a fence post. Missed another nice scorpion,
this time on a fence post. Home and to bed at 11.45 PM.
Jan. 50. Today we took our first long trip. Packed a good
lunch and started to circle the east end of the island.
We went by way of Stony Hill and Castleton Gardens to
the Wag Water and followed it to the north shore near
Anotto Bay. We stopped for our first collecting near
here. Swept along the roadside and took a series of
Pentatomids as well as the usual line of small stuff.
Found a species of Diplopod was travelling on the upper
surface of the rails of the R R track. From here we took
the coast road toward Port Antonio. Didn't see much that
looked promising for collecting until we reached Hope
Baye Back of a old foundation we found a cattle pen
12
which offerred good collecting. Dick found some
fleshy fungi that were infested with Staphs and
I took a good series of Aphodiinae from and under
dung. The old foundation was very nice. It is just
one of many to be found on the island and dates back
to about 1835. After the freeing of the slaves the
economic life of the island was disrupted and many of
the planters returned to England. Termites probably
Old cut stone foundation near Hope Bay.
took care of the superstructure in a few years but the
stone work has stood. Plant life, mostly ferns, has
completely covered it so that its color blends perfectly
with the background. The larger fern seen in the pice
ture is a maidenhair, not very different from our north-
ern species. , |
As it was now late in the morning we started along
the road looking for a good spot for lunch. We finally
selected a place on the beach a few miles west of Port
Antonio. The north shore of Jamaica is certainly much
better for scenery than the south; the beaches are
clean and mostly white, there are many coves and, at
least in the east, few mangrove swamps. Shortly after
lunch we came into Port Antonio, once the main commer-
cial port of the east end of the island but now of quite
minor importance. For many years the United Fruit Co.
used Port Antonio and maintained a large tourist hotel
on the high ground just back of the town and harbor. The
hotel was closed for a few years and when opened it was
found that termites had riddled all of the furniture and
other woodwork. Later the building was destroyed by fire
which was probably a very good thing as the infested tin-
bers might have been transported to other parts of the
island, thus spreading the colony. We looked around the
town a bit, enjoying especially the various views of the
13
harbor, said to be the most beautiful one on the is~
land. There were one or two boats in at the time
but the whole place seemed half asleep. There are
y
or ey Lf;
"YY Ft °%
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. Port Antonio harbor from the west.
a few fairly large and rocky islands just off the
coast a little east of Port Antonio that are inhab-
ited by single families. One looked especially nice,
the house was set perhaps 500 feet above the water
and the island itself might have been an eighth of a
mile offshore, We continued along the coast road with
occasional stops for collecting until we reached Fair
Prospect where we turned in on the road to Friendship
Valley. This was one of the best localities that Dick
had found in 1935 and at the right time of year should
produce a good crop of Chrysomelidae and longicorns.
We got some spiders and a few insects, mostly Coccinel-
lidae and leafhoppers. Followed the road and came out
on the coast road near Manchioneal. Stopped just south
of Manchioneal and took a fine lot of leafhoppers.
Getting late so we pushed on home by the shore road
by way of Port Morant and White Horses. Reached home
at 8.45 PM, too tired to go out after fireflies,
Jan. 31. Spent the morning sorting and labelling the
catch and in visiting the traps at Ferry River. Found
ants in all of the glasses, also one centipede and an
earwig. Everything is too dry; such a habitat should
have produced full traps. In the afternoon went to
Caymanas to meet the Bovells at tea and to arrange to
collect on the grounds of the Company. Mrs Bovell and
fe) o ee >
14
Marjorie were at home and I felt at ease very quickly.
Mrs Bovell announced that she would call me Doc and
that we might go up to Derry later in our visit. Men-
tion was also made of Kensworth, another estate belong-
ing to Mr Bovell. He is the manager of Caymanas Estates,
Ltd., producers of raw sugar and coconuts. Peculiar in
some ways evidently, as he is unwilling to meet strangers.
3 | We left shortly to go to
the Edwards' cocktail party
at the summer house above
Hermitage Dam. One drives
as far as possible on the
road and then climbs the
last five hundred feet by
a very steep path. When we
got up we found that we
were on the top of a peak
with room for one small ©
house and a very small gar-
den. After cocktails we
noticed fireflies and caught
a few without falling off
the mountain. They were a
different species from the
one found near the Wooler's,.
Got home for a late supper
and then went out for more
fireflies. Found some and
located a few of a differ-
ent species in the gully
beyond the next street
south of Cargill Ave. Under
street lights found many
diplopods, that looked
common enough to be some-
thing good. So to bed.
Feb. 1. Went to town this
morning to leave film with
Gick for developing and to
get suit, netting, tacks,
etc. Returned to Cargill Av.
and made net for dryopids,
| sorted yesterday's catch
and prepared labels. After lunch took the Mavis Bank road
to 2 miles above Gordontown, on the Flora river. Took rood
series of various dryopids, gyrinids and water-pennies.
Went back to station half mile above Gordontown and took
many spiders including two species of Tetragnatha. Found
some rotton banana trunks which produced weevil larvae,
pseudoscorpions and Zoraptera. Used net over car going home.
Liguanea plain, sugar mill in foreground, from Caymanas House.
Feb.
é. After an early breakfast and with a boxed lunch
we started for Roaring River Falls. First, a few words
about our car. It was a Fiat touring with mountain
gear (four speeds forward and one reverse). It had
been owned by a physician who turned it in some five
years before on a new car. Masterton let us have it
for three pounds a week plus two pounds for insurance.
The agreement was that we bought all gasoline and oil
and Masterton paid for all repairs. As the original
tires were on it when we took it, new ones would prob-
ably be needed before
we were through with
our trip. The motor
proved to be in reason-
able condition and gave
us no trouble but the
oil consumption was
something to marvel at,
One quart of oil with
each five to seven gal-
lons of gas was the rule
and the radiator may
have had a leak because
it took three or four
gallons of water every
two or three days. But
by and large, it was a
good investment and we
drove it about three
The Fiat, with collecting net thousand miles in the
forty days we had it.
We took the road through Spanish Town and Bog Walk.
Near that place we ran into dense fog, rising from the
Rio Cobre along which the road runs. We crossed the
river there on a new bridge and could see the foundations
of an old bridge from the Spanish period. The river passes
through a narrow gorge at this point and high up on the
wall we could see a marker indicating high water line for
some previous flood. From Bog Walk we went on through
Linstead to Ewarton where we saw a likely collecting spot.
It was a large pasture with considerable cow dung in sight.
Took a series of Sulcophanaeus carnifex (L.), some Aphod-
iinae and Staphs. A decaying grapefruit produced some
Nitidulids and Dick noticed an old stump partly covered
with a fleshy fungus that gave more Staphs. Our next stop
was a couple of miles beyond Monneague where we saw a
felled tree. Took some Staphs and Nitidulids under the
fairly tight bark. In passing, the country around Ewarton
looks just like New England. The farm houses are similar
and white, well kept up and the farms are fenced. When
Feb.
16
we hed returned to Kingston I mentioned the fact to
Mrs Wooler, who seemed quite interested. She said
that most of the New Englanders who migrated to Jamaica
at the beginning of the American Revolution because of
loyal sympathies settled in this part of the island and
apparently they retained their notions of farming and
farm buildings. We decided to stop in Fern Gully for
collecting but when we got there we found the conditions
not good. The soil was quite dry and the leaf cover was
scanty and not good for sifting. Found a few Staphylin-
ids but little else. Our next stop was at Roaring River
where we did find conditions reasonably good. Below the
falls and on each side of the stream there is flat land
with dense shrubbery and plenty of moisture. Sweeping
was fairly goods took a series of a pretty black and
white barine, weevil and some chrysomelids. Noticed some
small fishes in the still water just off the main stream
and caught some with the beating net. Had lunch and left
at about 2.30 PM. Decided to put the net up. Emptied the
net first in Fern Gully, noting one very slender weevil
and a nice cioid. Small catch, however, undoubtedly
because it was so early in the afternoon. Stopped again
at the upper end of Fern Gully to see if the deep shade
in the gully had an effect on the flight of insects.
The catch was not large but perhaps a few more that the
previous one. It contained a few staphs as well as the
same types mentioned above. Didn't stop again until we
reached Ewarton. This time the catch was considerably
larger and with more species. Next stop was just above
Spanish Town, after going through the gorge of the Rio
Cobre and along the river. Catch large, containing many
new species including Aphodiinae, Heteroceridae and Dry=
opidae. No more stops until we reached Half Way Tree
where we took a very heavy catch from the net. Dick
estimated the Staphylinidae at about 6,000. This catch
was analyzed later and contained representatives of 34
families of beetles and about 140 species. There were
also Heteroptera and Homoptera. The Diptera, consisting
mainly of Chironomidae, are not good when taken from the
net as they are so soft that they break up. The Chiro-
nomids amounted to about a teacup full from this one
catch. We had time to bathe and dress for dinner and
afterward sorted the catch and labelled the bottles,
oe Went into town to get the films that were left for
developing. On the whole not good; all were slightly
fogged as if the pack had been opened in “safe light".
As the film is a Panchromatic, there is no safe light.
Bought a cutlass at Henderson's for one and nine and
paid a boy one shilling to sharpen it. He did a good
job and it will be very handy in the brush. Went for
the mail and then back to 5 Cargill Ave. to finish sort-
t+ Gambusra graailior Kegan
Feb.
17
ing yesterday's catch. It is a really good lot with
much of interest. After lunch went out the Spanish
Town road, stopping at Fresh (Ferry) River to look
at the traps. Two of them were practically empty but
the third contained a good series of a small and rather
strikingly-marked roach. Downstream from the traps we
found a log with partly loose bark, under which we took
many silvanids, Cossonus sp., Passalus sp. (with larvae)
and a scorpion. Managed to catch a few small fishestin
the small coves along the river bank. These were
obviously not the same species as the ones we found at
Roaring River. Next we drove the car out onto a sand
bar at the ford in the Rio Cobre where we parked.
Chased Cicindela sp. back and forth over the sand and
managed to net a few, as well as many carabids and Tri-
dactyla sp. We also found a few Staphylinidae under
stones. From there we ran the car out the Sligoville
road nearly to Sligoville. Saw one Sulcophanaeus in
the road which we collected. Turned the car around
near a citrus plantation and put the net on. Emptied
it at Spanish Town and found that we had a good catch
including staphs and Aphodiinae. Home for supper and
afterward went to Hope Gardens for fireflies. Had good
luck, taking three species (at least). One was fairly
large and sluggish, sits on leaves rather close to the
ground, flashes with light greenish light,. flash contin-
uous for about one second, intervals between flashes
long. These were all taken in the low bush below the
pasture. Higher up in the pasture there was a second
species, very similar to the one from the Pagoda (the
name of Edwards' place on the hill where we went for
cocktails Jan. 31). This species flies strongly with
a steady but short flash. The third and smallest of the
species flies high but weakly, is usually beyond reach
of the net, flashes with a weak multiple flash which is
repeated at close intervals. This species is found over
the low wet ground where the large species was taken.
Dick found a large luminous elaterid larva. I discovered
that it bites viciously. The light organs are apparently
in the intersegmental areas, the band behind the head
much the strongest, the dorsal bands stronger than the
ventrals and with no trace of separate lateral lights.
This is almost certainly a Pyrophorus larva. Bed at
11.45 PM.
4. Had a late breakfast and started for Newcastle at
about 9.30 AM. Above Gordontown at about 3200 ft. we
ran into so much rain that we turned back and watched
for good collecting places. The Gordontown-Newcastle
road is very winding, it is said to have more than 350
sharp turns in the eleven miles. We stopped where a
+ limita eau doPasciata
18
small stream crossed the road. Found a few water
beetles and plenty of fallen trees to work. Under
bark found Zoraptera, ants etc. Ate lunch. At
the next small stream we found some rotting banana
trunks which yielded my first Metamasius adults,
more Zoraptera and a couple of Alegoria dilatata Cast,
Except for one or two scarabs, this is the only spec-
ies of insect on Jamaica that I recognize at sight.
Stopped again,at the bridge across the Mammee River
near junction with the Hope,for dryopids. Found some
Feb.
Old Spanish bridge over Mammee River.
water pennies and dryopids and managed to catch one
small fish. The bridge is of fitted stone and except
for the new concrete top is apparently in more or less
original condition. These bridges are all very narrow
and are strictly one way for traffic. Back to Half Way
Tree through Papine and Hope gardens with time to
bathe and dress before dinner. Did not go out in the
evening but laid plans for the rest of the week,
Se Went into Kingston to shop and look around,
Called on the U. S. Consul and found him a very pleas-
ant young man recently assigned to Kingston. Looked
at Wedgwood with view of future purchases, Took tire
around to Masterton for repairing. Bought ivory cig-
arette holder and found a William IV sixpence in my
change. Most of the coins in circulation are Victor-
ian, some quite early. Returned to the garage for the
tire and for gasoline to burn in the lantern, Then
to Edwards' laboratory to look over the collection of
local insects, The collection is very poor, many fam-
ilies represented by two or three specimens are really
common on the island. Edwards is evidently discouraged
Feb.
by his superior from attempting to build up a good col-
lection. Saw nothing of special interest. What little
they have was got together by C. C. Gowdey before he
left. We spent the afternoon at 5bdCargill Ave., getting
the sheet out and ready and filling the lantern. After
tea took supper in box and went back to Hope garden to
hang sheet. Found a good looking place but the collecting
was poor except for leaf hoppers. Went across aqueduct
(here it was so low that we could step or jump over it)
into the low ground for more fireflies. We stumbled onto
a freshly felled tree in the dark and found a few teneb-
rionids and longicorns (Chlorida sp.) on its trunk. Went
back to the sheet and found that the flight was about over
so we picked up and went home. Ruth and the Woolers had
gone to the movies and we were locked out. After waiting
three-quarters of an hour for them to come home, I noticed
that I could slip through one of the sidelights (which
were unlocked through oversight) and so we were in. Bed
about 11.30 PM.
6- Mrs Wooler packed a big lunch for us and we started
fairly early for Bath in St Thomas. Our road runs along
Old fort near Harbour Head.
the coast from Kingston, first through the gate of the
old fort, now used as a military prison, then by the Pan-
American Airways landing basin (all planes stopping at
Kingston are amphibians) and finally into open country.
Our first stop for collecting was a few miles this side
of White Horses, where we saw a large tree recently cut
down. It was a fine Tropic Birch about eighteen inches
in diameter, The natives called it a "Budge gum", prob-
ably a corruption of birch gum. Its technical name is
Bursera gummifera. Its bark was just beginning to loosen
20
and we found a good series of various small beetles
in the cracks of the drying bark. Mostly Colydiidae,
weevils and tenebrionids but also a few other families
were represented. Further along the road but still not
as far as White Horses there was a fine tree in full
bloom. It was afterward identified from our descrip-
tion and its location as Cordia gerascanthoides by one
of the men at the station. Its flowers were like those
of a lilac but much larger and pure white. Beat some of
the flowers and got a few Bruchids. At White Horses we
found an acacia in bloom with an Apion-like weevil in the
flowers. As the beach was quite near the road here, we
went onto it and turned up some Phaleria under some sea-
weed. No more stops until we reached Bath. Here we
turned off the main road and took the trail to Cuma Cuna
Pass through the Blue Mountains. The trail is good
enough for a car to within five miles of the pass. Col-
lected in fungus and rotten coconut leafbase, getting
a few staphylinids, some diplopods and a frog. Ate our
lunch at the end of the good road. There we found a
very interesting colonial spider web. It covered about
twenty square feet as a single sheet supported by the
tops of the grass and herbs. The spiders were spaced
some six inches apart over the entire surface and appeared
to respect each other's territory. The species was a
small one, not over a quarter inch long; the males were
brown and the females black. A rotten banana stem near
by yielded tenebrionids and nitidulids. We then returned
to the main road and ran
to a place about one mile
east of Bath where the
road crosses the Indian
Cony River near its junction
with the Plantain Garden
River. Here there was a
very large silk-cotton tree
recently cut down. There |
was a fine pile of chips
where about twenty feet of
its trunk had been. That
piece of trunk may have been
made into a boat or canoe.
The collecting was the best
yet. On the trunk itself
we found several specimens
of a large cerambycid and
~~ : . * _ ~
"J : i
er so ey one Chalcolepidius. The
, i epiphytic orchids were still
alive on the trunk and
Silk-cotton tree (Dick) larger branches. Under chips
CT ET eT ee ee eR ee
| 21
there were many myriapods as well as histerids and
other beetles. I did a little beating in the small
branches and in the shrubbery along the road into
a banana plantation and got some good things. Left
for home early so that we could put the net up over
the car. Emptied the net twice, once at Morant Bay and
once at Kingston. Good catches each time. We will
return to this tree, probably Monday.
Feb. 7. Today was a day of rest. I arose late, about
10 AM (the rest had all finished breakfast) and spent
the rest of the morning sorting and packing the catch
of the last two days. Caught up on my journal which
was three or four days behind. Wrote letters in the
afternoon and went to bed early.
Feb. 8. Again Mrs Wooler had a large lunch put up for us
and we started for the silk-cotton tree. We had for-
gotten to provide water coconuts so inquired along the
road and were directed to Clifton Hill. We supposed
that we had been directed to the overseer's house but
not so. We found ourselves at the great house and
evidently mistaken for tramps by the lady of the house,
a Mrs. Pengelly. She watched us but didn't intend to
talk with us until it came out that we were the two
gentlemen from the States who were staying with Mrs.
Wooler. Then all was well and we were invited into
the house and shown all courtesies. Our coconuts soon
arrived and we gave the boy a shilling for the nine
that he had knocked down from the trees. When we got
to the tree we found a party of blacks loading bananas
but we all went about our businesses. The trunk gave
us some more of the large cerambycids and another
Chalcolepidius, in the chips I got a lot more of the
myriapod. Found plenty of dryopids in the Indian Cony
and on the other shore we located a very.large and very
decayed tree. It was so soft that one could slash into
it twelve to fourteen inches with the cutlass. We picked
away at it and got a few specimens of Macraspis tetra-
dactyla L. and two species of Rhyssodidae, the latter
near to the center. Myriapods and pseudoscorpions were
also present. Nearby there was an old coconut stump
from which we took a beautiful green roach, Panchlora .
Spe In beating a hedgerow, I took a few good things.
While I was beating a long-tailed hummingbird came
to within three feet of me and seemed very curious
about what I was doing. I could almost have netted
him. I saw my first tody in the tree over the banana
pen. A small but very brilliantly colored bird, some-
thing like a sparrow. As it grew dark and we had eaten
wheat was left of our lunch, we put up the sheet and
Feb.
Feb.
Feb.
a
22
and lantern near the banana crib. Quite a few beetles
came, including species that we had not seen before.
Got some nice Colydiidae, Scolytidae, Platypodidae
and some small whitish weevils. The flight stopped
early, about 7.30 PM and we picked up. Dick took
a couple of Pyrophorus that were flying. These are
called “peenies" on the island. Too late to use the
net over the car so we drove without stopping and
reached Half Way Tree about 10.30. Ruth was up and
showed us a bottle of Cyclocephala tetrica Burm. ©
taken by a Mr Nethersole on his porch. We are invited
to collect there tomorrow night. His home is on the
Hermitage Dam road, near where we start climbing to
zo to the Pagoda.
9. Slept late and after breakfast went into Kingston
for mail (there was none) and to the Customs Office
for the tank that Dick shipped from Puerto Rico.
Worked over the catch of yesterday and wrote up the
journals. Dinner was a little late so that we didn't
get to Mr Nethersole's before the flight was past its
peak. However, our host and a Mr Schneeball (a New
Yorker living next door) had picked up a dozen Phyl-
« We took a few more and several
Lophaga Jj
other good things. Two specimens of a Cyclocephala
that looked new (I found out later that Arrow had
it in manuscript at the time). Many coccinellids,
including Psyllobora nigrovittata Cr., Ps. nana Muls.
and Procula douei Muls. Some Ichneumonidae. To bed
at about 10.30 PM but no sleep until the early morn-
ing because the dogs next door barked steadily.
10. Today being a legal holiday (Ash Wednesday) we
rested until evening, except for a visit to the King's
House where we signed the book. We did it quietly and
avoided any invitations to luncheon. In the evening
we ren up onto Ram's Horn ridge, across the valley
from Mr Nethersole's place and half a mile east of
Stony Hill. Burned the lantern for an hour or so but
didn't get much as it was distinctly cold. Chased
fireflies with flashlights and took a few. Gave it
up as hopeless and went down into the gully above
Constant Spring where the fireflies were much more
abundant. Got a fine series of a large pale species.
Back to the house about 10 PM and to bed for a good
night's sleep.
ll. Did very little today except to pack for Derry
and run out to Hope Gardens to see Edwards. Dixon
gave me a bottle of Anastrepha collected from mango
in the vicinity of the station.
Feb.
23
12. Left this morning about 9 AM for Derry. The trunk
will stay at Mrs Wooler's since Ruth is holding the room
while we are away. I have given up my room but hope to
get it back when I return. First we go to Mendez Pen to
pick up Mrs Bovell. She was at Don's place (bananas now
but they hope to make it over into a dairy farm later)
and we found it without difficulty. Ruth went with us and
will stay with us until we go to Kensworth. Ruth and Dick
took the Fiat and I went with Mrs Bovell in her Ford. The
road was first back to Old Harbour and then west through
May Pen and Four Paths to Toll Gate where we left the main
road (to Porus). Had lunch a little way dow this road
where it crosses Milk River and then up Figuraray Gully
to a side road that goes by Kensworth. We stopped there
long enough to see that it was habitable and then pushed
on to Mandeville. Here we dida bit of shopping for pro-
visions, postage stamps etc. From Mandeville, which is
Derry House, from the east.
a reasonably large town and very attractive, we took the
road through Mile Gully and turned off just before reach-
ing Comfort Hall on a side road that led to Derry House. |
Derry is an old plantation now owned by Philip Bovell and
occupied by the Savariau sisters and the servants. Her-
manse Savariau if the older of the two and handles the
servants and runs the place. Mary, a few years younger,
(both appear to be in the region of seventy) is a born
naturalist who should never have been prevented from tak-
ing up serious work along the lines of anatomy or taxonomy.
Born fifty years too early, she would certainly have done
it in this age. She has collected fem B. Preston Clark
and others. Both are very pleasant and they will make it
easy for us in every way. The present Derry House is not
24
the original one but was built a little over a hundred
years ago to replace the one that was destroyed by fire.
one
- ¥
he 2
ff nit} j
Hy ae
ry
rf
Overseer's house, now stable, at Derry.
The overseer's house stands a little in front of the
Great House, that is, nearer to the main road. It is
of whitewashed stone and is now used as stable and for
general storage purposes. To the west of the Great
“ae inka ei hab aye
Water tanks at Derry.
House are the water tanks, a pair of stone and concrete
reservoirs into which the rain water which falls on the
roofs. of the house is conducted. One of the tanks is
for the house and one for the cattle. One does not use
unboiled water for drinking purposes here. Back of the
Great House and connected to it by a covered passage is
the cook house where the servants live. At the side of
Feb.
LL a es
25
> -
« «= bef die - -
lay rae “= oe
A Se OP
“ et : eqs
co
oe
~
Breadfruit tree at Derry.
all around the estate are various specimen trees of
the more unusual species,
As soon as we had our luggage taken to our rooms
dinner was called and we sat down at a nearly full
table. The large dining room and the adjacent game
room are floored with breadnut, a native tree whose
wood resembles ebony. The flooring is in random widths
showing both dark heart wood and nearly white sap wood
and the effect as laid is striking and very beautiful.
Each week the floor is polished by one of the servants.
A half? coconut husk is packed full of orange peel and
serves as the scrubbing brush. After a weekly scrub-
bing for nearly a century the floor has a fine luster
and a hard surface that can stand even hobnails with-
out scratching. After dinner we went out and caught
a few peenies and then to bed.
13. Started out back of the house and stopped first
to open a termitarium of Nasutitermes sp. Found the
queen cell was in a crotch where we couldn't get at it
so couldn't look for guests. Took some ants and cara-
bids under stones in the roadway and some aphodiines
under dung in the pasture. The ants were the kind that
have long mandibles that click audibly when the ants
are disturbed (Odontomachus haematoda (L.) ?). Came
back to the house for lunch and after lunch went to
the temporary pond north west of the house. Found a
colony of Nasutitermes that was swarming and got a
good series of winged forms as well as the queen. In
Feb.
Feb.
26
a large log lying above the high water line of the
pond we found many Passalus in various stages.
Sweeping produced little as did collecting on flowers
of coffee. The coffee bush in full bloom is a sight
with its very dark green leaves and white flowers.
In the evening we went out back to hang the sheet and
lantern. As we approached a suitable spot, we noticed
a large grey bird sitting on a stump. By having Dick
keep the beam of the flashlight in his eyes, I was
able to walk up to within a yard of him. It was one
of the goatsuckers, related to our Whip-poor-will or
our Night Hawk. Made no effort to catch him and he
soon flew away noiselessly as an owl would have. The
evening was too cold and almost nothing came to the
sheet.
14. Took a lunch and started for Oxford Cave. We
stopped at the bridge over the One Bye river, locally
known as the Oxford river. Found at least three kinds
of Dryopidae in the river, some on rocks but mostly
on decaying banana trash that had collected in the
backwaters. On a water soaked log in swift current
I took a single specimen.of Helichus sp. (This proved
to be the only specimen of this genus taken during
our entire stay.) We ate lunch at the mouth of the
cave and in the afternoon drove to Troy where we had
good sweeping, especially for leafhoppers. Ruth and
Marjorie had joined us at the bridge and they collected
dung beetles and dryopids. From Troy we returned by
way Of Balaclava where we stopped for bread. After
dinner we went out for fireflies and took several
specimens of a species new to us as well as specimens
of species that looked common. If a firefly is not
too high, not above 20 feet, it can be enticed down
the beam of the flash light, that is, sometimes. A
peenie will come in the beam from a much greater dis-
tance. It's hard to stand still and not flinch when
a peenie flies in because he comes very swiftly. How-
ever, he lands so lightly that he is not felt when he
strikes the shirt. We also tried the lantern and
sheet but without results and we gave up soon and
went to bed.
15. Sorted the catch of the last few days and in-
cluded a bottle of peenies and Ligyrus that the Sa-
variau sisters, at least Mary, had saved for us.
Collected a little around the place and decided to
go over to Maggoty Falls in the afternoon. We went.
through Balaclava and on the way stopped to collect
dryopids in the Black river, we found a few. At the
falls we opened a termitarium which had eight queens
Feb.
27
in the queen cell but no termitophiles. In the lower
part of the termitarium we found a few reptile eggs,
each about one inch long. Above the queen cell, in
the passageways there was a small blind snake, Typhlops
jamaicensis, containing three more of the same type of
eggs. The snake was small enough to squeeze through the
passages in the termitarium and probably fed on the ter-
mites. Its scales would protect it from the termites.
Maggoty Falls.
As collecting around the falls was not too good, we
moved on to Newton where we stopped at the first cleare
ing for tea and collecting. There was a freshly cut tree
and Dick took a long series of nitidulids from the stump
and butt. I worked my way into a thorny bush where there
was another termitarium but I didn't succeed in getting
at the queen cell. Part of the termitarium was occupied
by a colony of large red ants which bit ferociously. While
I was fighting the red ants I was stung painfully three
times by what I took to be a wasp. Later I discovered
that the stinger was a small and helpless-looking ant. My
hands remained swollen for about three days. We then put
the net up over the car and started home, emptying the
net first at Balaclava and again at Derry. We had two good
catches. After dinner chased fireflies at the side of the
house in and around the shrubbery. Bed about 11 PM.
16. Today we decided to go to the north shore by way of
Catadupa and the Cockpit country. Stopped first at the
Jones river for dryopids and took a good series. Then at
Feb.
28
Catadupa we took a side road leading to Mocho. Found
a few millipeds and some good sweeping. Got a series
of coccinellids and spiders; Dick found a few nice
staphs. Then we ran through the Cockpits which are
now generally plented to bananas to Montego Bay. This
is the big resort town on the north shore, full of
magnificent hotels which are very expensive. Started
east along the shore and stopped at several places to
collect under beach drift, Minute trichopterygids were
very abundant in
the seaweed. For-
ficulids were also
there in numbers
but in general the
collecting was not
good. Phaleria sp.
and Aphodiinae
should have been
there. A mile or so
beyond Montego Bay
the shore has been
captured by the man-
grove and there was
no more shore line
before we reached
Falmouth. Here we
ate our tea. There
are very nice ruins
around Falmouth and
Hyde Hall. After
leaving Falmouth we
put the net up over
the car. The first
part of the run was
through cane fields
and we emptied the
Carton nest of Nasutitermes sp. net at the end of
the cane. Had a good
catch with many staphylinids. On the map this would be
Jackson Town. From Jackson Town we took the road running
nearly due south through Ulster Spring to Troy and Oxford
and then to Derry. Put away the catch and went to bed
without any night collecting for fireflies. We leave for
Kensworth tomorrow morning.
17. Left Derry early in the morning for Kensworth. Good
thing we started betimes because we had our first real
car trouble. Something was wrong with the ignition and
while we could do as high as 25 m.p.h. on level ground,
we could barely creep up a hill even in extra low gear.
We finally stopped and found one sparkplug out because
ee , ee ee oe a -
29
of a broken wire. After this was repaired we made
better time but there was still something the matter
with the engine. After three hours we had gone 20
miles and we finally reached Kensworth at half past
one. By that time Dick had decided that the trouble
was a stoppage in the fuel line but we did not have
ea pump to blow it out. We did clean the filter and
that helped a bit. We settled ourselves and had a
Front view of Kensworth.
late tea. We tried out the collecting before supper
and found a few things. After supper we hung the
gasoline lantern on the porch and used the white wall
of the house for a sheet. It was a little chilly and
very little came to the light.
Feb. 18. Ruth and Dick started for Kingston about 9,350
AM, Ruth to stay at the Wooler's and Dick to take the
car to Masterton for repair. He may get back tonight
if all goes well. As soon as they were off I started
out to the north of the house. Opened a termitarium
and found eggs of Typhlops jamaicensis but no snake.
Also I missed the queen cell and hence the queen. I
should have said egg-shells as the eggs had hatched
long since and the shells were dry and curled. This
termitarium had been built partly on and partly ina
fallen log and the dissection of it was not easy.
Found some good sweeping that yielded bruchids, weevils,
chrysomelids and others. Spilochalcis or related genus
seems to be relatively common for I took eight or ten
specimens. There is a small Tigridia-like iridaceous
plant fairly common in the pasture. It has yellow
50
goblet like flowers about an inch across and quite
pretty. There were ripe seeds to be had so I took
a bottle full for Ben Morrison. Came back to the
house for dinner which consisted of canned salmon,
Looking southwest from Kensworth porch.
bread and butter, with grapefruit juice to drink.
After dinner I went straight away from the house,to
the east and over the terrace wall into the pasture.
Much better collecting, took at least fifteen species
of beetles as well as many homoptera and heteroptera.
The almost total absence of flies amd wasps is re-
markable. So far I have seen only one wild bee, that
one was on a flower on the way to White Horses; I
missed it with my net. Flowers are almost as rare,
the Cordia and Acacia found Feb. 6, the flower-men-
tioned above and the Yellow "Tigridia" are all that
I remember of seeing. I did find the host plant of
the bruchid taken in the morning. It is a low shrub,
perhaps three feet high, bearing pinnately compound
leaves of from ten to twelve leaflets and long slender
pods ( about 4.5 by .25 inches). By beating every
shrub that I could find I got a series of a hundred
or so bruchids. I also collected a bottle of the beans
for possible identification. Came back to the hause
for a combined tea-supper of salmon, fresh tomatoes,
fried bananas, fried sweet potatoes, boiled cho-cho
(which is like summer squash but without seeds),
coconut milk and cocoa. A good meal, pretty well
cooked. At this point let me introduce the servants.
Feb.
Feb.
ol
They are all very dark brown to black, all appear to be
stunted in grouth and all have very bad teeth. The cook
and more or less chief-of-staff is Clarice, who is unof-
ficially married to Ferdie. They have one or two chil-
dren and expect to get married legally some day when it
is convenient. Clarice makes very good scrambled eggs
and can boil vegetables in water; otherwise the cuisine
is very limited. She has a younger sister, Rosa, who
cleans house and tries (?) to keep the place in shape.
Ferdie does the outside work which includes taking a few
cows to pasture each morning and bringing them back each
evening. And last, "The Boy", a youngster of about 14
is attached to the menage to run errands etc. He makes
one trip a day to Newport for supplies. The weekly wages
of the four, respectively, in shillings are 5, 5, 3 and »
a total of fifteen shillings or about $3.70 a week. In
a place like Kingston the wage scale is a little higher
but still nothing for the whites to be proud of,
After supper I went over the day's catch and put that
away and then, as it was Hazel's birthday, I wrote her a
letter. Also one to Alan Stone.
19. Went out east of the house again and worked along
as far as the stone wall and bamboo thicket. Took more
of the bruchids and quite a series of good things. In
fact, the best collecting that I have had so far on the
island. Came back to the house to get more bottles of
alcohol and found the noon meal on the table. Clarice
is under the impression that I never come back until I
am hungry. Since it was ready, I ate. Then I went along
the road, sweeping the vegetation with poor results until
I met Dick, returning from Kingston. The car is now in
better condition than ever. Ruth stayed behind at the
Wooler's. Dick brought mail which was welcome. After un-
packing and reading the mail, we swept for more bruchids.
In the evening we put up the light on the porch and went
out for fireflies whenever we sawa flash. About 9.30 PM
a car pulled up at the front door. Marjorie Bovell and
Barbara Nurse got out and settled themselves in the two
rooms on the other side of the house. They watched us
collect for awhile and then went to bed. We had planned
to stay up until 3 AM to find out when the fireflies quit
flying but got so sleepy that we gave up just before one.
20. We started early for Dodd's Beach at Alligator Pond
Bay and the girls went to Mandeville to do some shopping.
As Paul Oman had asked me to look for a leafhopper living
on some beach plant, I swept everything in sight. Finally
I located a succulent Convolvulus on the beach away from
the salt water which had hoppers. They are probably. not
what Paul wants but I took them on general principles.
ee
Feb.
52
Beach Grape (Coccoloba uvifera Jacq.) was abundant on
the sea side and yielded several good things. Best of
all was a series of an undescribed species of Psyllo-
bora. It was not common but by beating all of the
beach grape in sight we took perhaps six specimens. We
will come back here later to get more. There were some
nice looking longicorns and one rather large and strik-
ing cyrptorhynchine weevil, About noon the girls came
with a fine lunch which was thoroughly enjoyed. Ata
Beach at Alligator Pond Bay, looking east.
suitable time after eating we went in for a swim in the
surf. After the swim the girls went back to Kensworth
and we continued to collect until it was time to put the
net up over the car. We drove home by way of Cross Keys
and took a good catch. Spent the evening talking about
this and that.
ele In the morning Marjorie took me over the estate to
point out the dangerous sink holes. Ome of these is more
than 250 feet deep. Don Bovell had himself lowered into
it on a 250 ft rope and was unable to see bottom from
that point with a strong flashlight. His dog had fallen
in while chasing hogs. There are three bad sinks on the
place. She also showed me the differences between Con-
volvulus and Passiflora, genera which I had not differ-
entiated. Took a small series of a blue Halticid on the
Passiflora and a large series of a small black Halticid
(Epitrix sp.) on the Convolvulus. Back to the house for
dinner at about 1 PM. It started to rain and continued
Feb.
Feb.
3s
the rest of the day. Marjorie and Barbara went back
to Caymanas at about 4.50 PM. Barbara is the wife
of the factory chemist; they have recently come to
the island from Barbados. The rain slowed up a bit
at dusk and we took the lantern and sheet over beyond
one of the sinks and stayed until 8.00 PM. Tooka
few fireflies and Sulcophanaeus. Had a late supper
and went to bed.
eee Washington's Birthday and nobody seems to care !
We packed a lunch and started for BlackRiver town by
way of Mandeville and Lacovia. Opened a termitarium
near Lacovia and took a large queen but no guests.
Just east of Black River we found ourselves at the
shore and we beat beach grape getting more of the
Psyllobora nesp. Also took staphylinids, histerids
and Aphodius on human excreta. Followed the shore road
: east until we came
to the side road
going to Great Pe-
dro Bay. There is
a fishing camp
there and the odors
not any too pleas-
ant. We had decid-
ed to eat lunch ther
| but changed our
minds. We went
| back to the main
| road an had lunch
"| by the roadside
-| in the shade of a
“=«.| large tree. Then on
to Alligator Pond
Bay for more Psyl-
lobora n.sp. and a
| swim. There are no
Bamboo near Lacovia. bathing facilities
at Kensworth. Left
at 6.00 Fit and ran to Kensworth with the net up. Took
a good series of Staphylinidae and Aphodiinae. "The Boy"
had caught two galliwasps, lizards reputed to be very
poisonous, in the wall in front of the house. Will
have to go to Mandeville tomorrow for formaldehyde and
a jar to keep them in. Bed about 10.30 PM.
— .
23. Went to Mandeville for shopping. We mailed some
letters that we had written, bought some stamps and
Cigarettes, also gasoline. Finally got some formalde-
hyde in the drug store and a large glass jar in the
hardware and drygoods store. Back to Kensworth for an
a
*
04
early dinner. In the afternoon we went out to look
for the old works, supposed to be somewhere on the
estate but we missed them. We did get more bruchids
and also found a sink that hed filled with water so
that there was a permanent pool. After tea, went
back to Mandeville with two tires that had deflated.
We then put up the net and drove back to Kensworth
by way of Williamsfield, Porus, Toll Gate and Milk
River. Emptied the net at Toll Gate and again at
Kensworth. Took over a thousand staphylinids from
the net at Toll Gate. Stopped just before we reached
Kensworth to chase fireflies; we took at least three
species.
Feb. 24. After waiting for breakfast, we took lunch and
started for Savanna-La-Mar. We first stopped at Man-
deville to pick up the spare wheel left last night.
i
al
Silk-cotton tree, showing buttress base.
Then we really started by Spur Tree Hill, Lacovia,
Santa Cruz and Black River. Blew another tire near
Middle Quarters, just before coming into Black River.
So we had to stop at Black River to have that one
fixed. Off again, following the shore road toward
Savanna-La-Mar. About five miles out we came to a
small and rather muddy pond. By laying a board that
we found on the mud “beach” we were able to crawl
out and collect from the weeds and from the surface
of the mud. Dick took some Stenus and other staphs
and I got good series of Coleomegilla cubensis Csy.
and a blue halticid, perhaps Disonycha. The owner
of the pond mistook us for poachers and sent his
servant in to expel us. It wasn't difficult to
pacify the owner, however. We ate lunch there and
59
then pushed on, stopping next at Seal Cove. Insects
were not abundant but the rocks in the shallow water
were covered with a small roundish snail with very
beautifully marked shell. No two seemed to be alike.
Main street of Black River.
Looking back at Black River from the road.
After collecting a bottle full of the snails, we drove
as far as Bluefields, from which point we could see
savanna-La-Mar across Bluefields Bay. Went down onto
the beach and beat beach-grape but didn't find the new
Psyllobora. Turned back and took the road around Black
Feb.
56
River, through Speculation and Luana. Near Luana we
saw a good looking pasture and stopped. Dick worked
dung for staphylinids and Aphodiinae while I beat the
shrubbery from miscellaneous insects and spiders. Took
a good lot of the latter. Ate what we had for tea and
RR Aa
S NIt A iN a ie
; \ uw $ ,
: ) \ “A | Ar A +
va mW
Maan [*<
Small pond, five miles west of Black River.
At Middle Quarters put up the net. We drove to a point
half way up Spur Tree Hill where we stopped to let the
engine cool. The catch was a large one, in fact one of
the largest that we took on the whole trip. There were
more than two thousand staphs and there was a series of
eight specimens of what was obviously a new species of
Phyllophaga. From Spur Tree we took the road to Knock-
patrick, then to Newport and Kensworth.
206 Spent the morning putting away the catch of the
last two days. Also investigated one of the sinks.
The investigation was not conclusive because when a
rock is dropped in, you can't hear it strike bottom
and so can't tell how deep it really is. It's plenty
deep, anyhow. In the shrubbery around the sink we got
a beautiful case of chiggers, enough to keep us itching
for the next few nights. In the afternoon we went back
to Alligator Pond Bay, by way of Mandeville, Spur Tree,
Gutters and the road down the valley. Took one more
Psyllobora, a few shells and chitons and had a swim. On
the way back we put up the net and drove back to Gutters
and then back and forth on the Spur Tree - Santa Cruz
road until quite dark. However, we took no more of the
new Phyllophaga. Finally home through Alligator Pond and
Cross Keys. Missed our way at Cross Keys and took the
o7
long way around through Newport.
Feb. 26. Breakfast at 8 AM, after which we packed the
car for the trip to Kingston. We paid the servants
for a week and a half, so they cost us an even guinea.
I also gave the Boy three pence for the lizards that
he dug out of the wall. Instead of going back over
the same road that we first came over (with Mrs. Bo-
vell), we went through Newport, Mandeville, Porus and
Toll Gate. Between Porus and Toll Gate we stopped by
the Milk River to look for dryopids. Didn't find any
but did get badly stung by ants while tearing a rotten
banana trunk to pieces. Next stop was at a small pond
by the roadside, one mile east of May Pen (23 mi. west
of Spanish Town. There was good sweeping around the
shore and in the water we got many water beetles and
bugs. The pond was just full of water fern (Marsilea
quadrifolia L.). This pond was out in the full sun in
a pasture. Two miles further down the road we found
another pond, this one in the woods. Took a series of
a Dineutes which was different from the one we found
near Gordontown. Also caught a few small fish Dick
found some dung that yielded a large number of staphs,
aphodiines, sphaeridiines and histerids. No more stops
for collecting and we reached Half Way Tree in time to
bathe and dress for dinner. I can't live at the Wooler's
The Lindo's, 6 Cargill Ave., Half Way Tree.
now as my room has been taken so I will eat and sleep
across the street at the Lindo's. One compensation is
hot water for baths. After dinner we went to see the
movie "The Ghost Goes West.", very light and funny.
7 Gambuata oligosticla Regan.
o8
Febe 27. In the morning we took the car to the garage
for minor repairs and a check up. Went around to
Nathan's and ordered another suit. As the bolt of
grey cloth was exhausted, I had to take light brown,
When I told Mrs. Wooler, she looked distressed at
first but said that as long as I didn't wear brown
on the island it would be all right. Only people of
color wear brown or any shade thereof on Jamaica,
Also went for the mail and to Gick's for films that
had been left for processing. They came out much
better than the first lot that he handled. Spent
tuppence to go home by tram. After lunch we took the
tram back to town and recovered the car. Drove out
to Hope Garden and found a freshly cut tree but there
were no beetles. It was too late to see Edwards so
we went back to the house and to bed early.
Feb. 28. Took lunch and started for Bath (St. Thomas).
Stopped on the road to help a man who had tire trou-
ble. At Leith Hall, near Morant Bay, we stopped for
water coconuts. The accountant refused pay for them,
saying that the rats got half a million each year and
our few could go in with the rat's allowance. Even
with the rat depredations, Leith Hall markets a mil-
lion a year. The accountant has been paralyzed for
thirty years, following an accident in the Panama
earthquake of 1907 while he was working on the canal.
We collected a bit in the vicinity and then pushed on
to the silk-cotton tree. Got more of the usual run of
Plantain Garden River at Bath (E.A.C.)
of species and some lizards. Decided to go home by
eo Te
og
the Cedar Valley road which proved to be one of the
most beautiful drives that we have seen. In going
toward Kingston, the left side of the road is a steep
cliff, over which “bridal veil" waterfalls tumble at
frequent intervals. To the right is the valley of the.
Plantain Garden river. We had the net up over the car
end took a good catch. As this was Sunday, the native
population was out in its best finery and it was amusing
to note that the store keeper at Trinityville must have
purchased a bolt of a most arresting shade of purple. We .
saw about a dozen damzels, each dressed entirely in this
remarkable color. Going was slow as the groups of loiter-
ers were always encountered in the middle of the road
just around each turn. We arrived at Half Way Tree for
late dinners at 8.30 PM.
Mare 1.. Went to Caymanas Estates to say our Good-byes to
Mrs. Bovell. Marjorie took us over the factory and we
followed the manufacture of sugar from the fresh cut
cane to the bagging of the semirefined product. The
cane comes in from the field in lengths from three to
six feet and is unloaded into a trough whose bottom is
a moving belt. The cane first passes through a battery
of chopping knives and is reduced to coarse hash. ‘This
hash is passed through three sets of very heavy rollers
and the juice is completely extracted, leaving the refuse
or bagasse dry and ready to burn. Except for the wood
necessary to start the boilers at the beginning of the
season, the power plant of the factory operates entirely
on bagasse. The juice is filtered, mixed with lime and
goes to the kettles where it is boiled down. As cane
sugar, or sucrose, tends to break down into dextrose and
levulose, much of the yield of the cane would be lost if
this tendency could not be overcome. Lime prevents the
inversion of the dextrose to levulose and therefore is
added to the juice. It spoils the molasses because it
robs the molasses of part of its sweetness. After the
juice is thickened by boiling, it is led into vacuum pans
where it continues to boil until the sugar crystals form.
At just the right instant the contents of the vacuum pans
is sluiced into the centrifuges where the molasses is
driven away from the sugar and from which the sugar is
taken in a slightly moist state for bagging. If the vac-
uum pan is mek emptied too soon, the yield of sugar is low
and if too late, the sugar "freezes" in the pan and has to
be chiseled out and considerable expense,
From the factory we drove over to one of the large
banana. walks where the cutters were at work. Each tree
bears a single stem or bunch of bananas and is cut down
when the bananas are ready for harvesting. The cutter
uses just seven strokes of a cutlass for each tree and
Mar.
40
receives for his labor the sum of one shilling for
each hundred trees cut. He is also penalized for bad
bunches, if any. The carriers bring the bunches to
previously determined spots along the road where they
are washed by the women and loaded into trucks. Two
bunches at a time is considered a good load for a man
but I have seen three taken. Carriers get three shil-
lings a hundred bunches. The work is hard as it means
tramping through mud six or eight inches deep for fifty
yards or so with about 150 lbs balanced on the head.
We went back to the house for lunch and had a most
pleasant visit with Mrs Bovell and Marjorie. Left about
5 PM and drove to Kingston where I left a film pack for
development and had a fitting at Nathan's. I was invited
to the Wooler's for tea and in the evening we went to
the movies. The picture was a comedy “One Rainy After-
noon", Light but amusing.
Pylons of an old Spanish bridge at Easington.
2e First went down town to do some errands. Dick is
still pursueing the tank supposed to come on the Howe
line boat. Nothing heard of it as yet. Then he went
to Pan American Airways to try to collect on his plane
ticket, Jamaica to Washington. They were not ready to
settle and we are a bit nervous. The reservation on
liar.
41
the boat must be taken up soon and of course Dick can't
afford to pay for four passages home at the same time.
I went to the bank (Bank of Nova Scotia) to get cash
to pay my bills at Mrs Wooler's and the Lindo's as well
as to do a little necessary shopping. Went to Hender-
son's for hardware. Bought two more cutlasses, at one
and nine each, two knives at five and six each and a
heavy outdoors knife for Elsie Brown at nine shillings.
After lunch we started for Bath by way of Easington and
Trinityville. The Yallahs river was very low and the
fords were all open.
It is hard to believe
that if they had a
hard rain in the Blue
fountains, the Yallahs
would become a raging
torrent in a few min-
utes. Just upstream
of the present bridge
at Easington are the
remains of an old suse
pension bridge dating
from the Spanish occu-
pation. The two pylons
are still standing and
the notches in their
tops for the three >
cables are plainly
visible. The bridge
floor was at the level
of the gateways cut
through the pylons.
As we approached Bath
we noticed a stream
cutting across the road
thet looked like good
The valley of the Yallahs. collecting. We stopped
and took some fine
water beetles, including many dytiscids. Almost as good
a haul as we made from the small pond in the pasture
near May Pen. . We ate tea and turned the car around as
it was getting late. With the net up we ran back a few
miles. Here we turned off of the Cedar Valley (Trinity-
ville) road. and went down to Morant Bay, following the
Morant River, and then along the coast road to Kingston.
Thirteen miles out of town we came across three girls in
a broken down car. We took a message to an officer at
the Up Park Camp barracks.
Se Spent the morning putting away the catch of the
last few days. Also wrote up some of the notes that
Mare
42
had been neglected. In the afternoon we went back |
to Pan American Airways and still they are not ready
to make the refund on Dick's tickets. We finally
drove out to the airport and Dick talked with some
of the officials there. He was given assurances that
the matter would be adjusted in time for him to take
up his reservation on the United Fruit boat. Then
we ran out onto the Palisadoes for a short distance.
This is the point of land which forms the outer boun-
dary of Kingston harbor and at the end of which is the
town of Port Royal. The original Port Royal, destroyed
by the earthquake of 1698, stood on a site now under
water. On the way back to town we dropped into the
United Fruit to make sure that our boat reservations
were all right. In the evening we saw a very poor
movie “Murder on the Bridal Path". |
4. Spent the day getting some photographs that we
felt we needed for our records. Ran out the Spanish
flown road nearly to Ferry river where we found a ter-
mitarium in a good place for photographing. (See page
28). Nearby we found a dead dog and from under it
took a series of Creophilus and Opatrinus, both genera
new to our Jamaica collecting. Then after lunch we
went back to Hope Gardens for photos and to see Mr.
Edwards. He gave me a set of maps of the Kingston
District which are very detailed. There should be
four in the set but one was either out of print or
had not been prepared. We also arranged to get a
gallon of alcohol from him. Took photographs of
Dick collecting in dung (see next page) and of some
of the buildings. Then we went back down town and
paid for the car, again got no satisfaction from Pan
American, bought icecream for tea and did some other
errands. After dinner or rather tea, we packed the
_ trunk and paid a duty call on some friends of some
Mar.
one in the Pan American Union. The name was Bravo
and we were very welcome. We stayed only a short
time and then went back to early bed.
De Spent the day packing and doing errands. Dick
arranged to have the tank (still missing) delivered
from the Horn Line to the Jamaica Auto Association
and to have Marjorie notified of its arrival, bought
a few gigts, mostly Wedgwood and ivory. We also col-
lected the refund from Pan American Airways and got
the gallon of alcohol from Edwards. At six we went to
Edwards' home for cocktails and met several people.
One of the guests was A. W. Jobbins Pomeroy, once with
the US DA and later with the British government in
Africa. He is now retired and lives in Jamaica. He
Mar.
43
is somewhat of a braggart but has done one creditable
paper on Carabidae. I was invited for dinner to the
Wooler's, since it was the last night. After dinner
Dick collecting dung beetles.
finished packing the suitcases, including one new one
that was necessary to hold the new accessions.
6. Made our final goodbyes before nine and started
for the boat.
We left the baggage on the pier and Dick
took the car to Masterton. A chauffeur then drove him
44
back to the pier. Marjorie had come down to see us
off and we all went aboard. Our boat is the Ulua,
a smaller and more chunky ship than the Quirigzua.
My stateroom is No. 1, the worst on the boat, I think.
It is on the main deck opening into the main saloon.
Also I found out later that one of the derricks that
is used to hoist the cargo out of the hold has to be
set up on the roof just over my bunk, so that I got
no sleep the last night when we entered New York.
The boat sailed at 10.15 AM and we passed Morant Bay
at about 1 PM.
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY
ALL CORRESPONDENCE
SHOULD BE ADDRESSED Washengton, CSA.
TO THE SECRETARY
March © 1941,
10 WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
This will serve to introduce Dr. Edward
Ae Chapin, Curator of Insects, United States National
Museum, who is traveling to Jamaica to study the insect
life of that Island and to make collections for this
Institution.
Any courtesies or assistance that may
be accorded him will be deeply appreciated.
G4 Secretary.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
NATIONAL COLLECTION OF FINE ARTS
FREER GALLERY OF ART
NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION DIVISION OF RADIATION AND
ORGANISMS
FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY
U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
IN REPLYING, ADDRESS THE
U.S. Public Health Service Dispensaty
Railroad Retirement Board Bldg.,
4th & D Sts., S. W., Washington, D. 0;
March 25, 1941.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
This is to certify that DR. EDWARD A. CHAPIN,
employed as Curator of Insects by the U.S. National
Museum, has received three inoculations against typhoid
at this Dispensary: 0.5 cc., March 10, 1941; 1.0 cee,
March 18, 1941, and 1.0 cc., March 25, 1941.
Respectfully,
A » van’Ackeren,
Surgeon, USPHS,
Medical Officer in Charge.
VWBscag
UNITED FRUIT COMPANY.
GREAT WHITE FLEET
|
|
|
( 4 G.£. §. “Talamanca”
C. W. WHIDDEN, Master
SAILING FROM NEW YORK, |
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1941
9
PORTS OF CALL:
KINGSTON, JAMAICA, B. W. A
CRISTOBAL, C. Z.
PORT LIMON, C. R.
PUERTO BARRIOS, GUATEMALA
HAVANA, CUBA
—> Oe >
MR. H. M. LARRABEE
" =F,
New York to Kingston, Ja. B. W. I.
MR. E. A. CHAPIN
MR. & MRS. A. V. COOK
MISS L. V. Da COSTA |
MISS FOWENA FOWLES
MISS ALBERTHA FRANCIS
MISS JOYCE GRIERSON
MR. T. W. HALL
MR. & MRS.M. C. HANDAL & 4 children
MISS LUCILE HOSACK
MR. T. W. NEWCOMB
MRS. I. M. OAKLEY
MR. VINCENT PELLEGRINO
MRS. M. N. REED
HON. @ MRS. J. A. SANDERS
MRS. P. P. SEAGRAM
MARS. L. E. SOWLEY
New YVorl to Cristobal,
LIEUT V. L. BIGSBY, U.S.N.R.
MR. SPENCER BURNHAM
MR. ALFRED GILMAN
MR. MURRAY HERTZ
MR.GUSTAV A. HOLMSTROM
MRS. G. E. JACOBS
LIEUT. J. Y. MILLER, U.S.N.
MR. JOS. RIZZO
MR. LAWRENCE SCACCHETTI
MR. LOUIS SEGAL
COMDR. & MRS. H. T. SETTLE, U. 8. N.
MR. H.T. SETTLE, JR.
MISS MARY E. SETTLE
MRS. J. W. STEWART
MR. M.M.TATZ
MR.G. F.WEIS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
MORRISTOWN, N. J.
KINGSTON, JA. .
RENO, NEVADA
ST. ANDREW, JA. —
KINGSTON, JA.
TORONTO, ONT.
KINGSTON, JA.
CROSS ROADS, JA.
LONG BRANCH, N. J.
NEW YORK CITY
a
>» 9 ”
RENO, NEVADA
TORONTO, ONT.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.
_&. @e
MALVERN, PENNA.
CHICAGO, ILL.
BRONX, N. Y.
BROOKLYN, N, Y.
BRONX, N. Y.
FORT CLAYTON, Cees
‘CHELSEA, MASS.
BELLROSE, oy &
LOUIS VILLE, KY.
McLEAN, VA.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.
NEW YORK CITY
New York to Port Limon, €C. Fe.
MR. AGUSTIN MEMBRENO, P.
MR. & MRS. PF. W. OWENS
MR. & MRS. VICTOR QUEZADA
MR. & MRS. RICARDO SOLANO, S.
MRS. AMALIA TREJOS
MRS. M. L. MORENO de VILLALTA
New York to Puerto Farrios.
MISS ALICE HANCHETT
MISS ESTHER LANG
MISS MARGUERITE YEAMAN
FOREST, IDAHO
SAN JOSE, C. R.
ABILENE, KANSAS ©
HILLSDALE, N. J. ~
SAN JOSE, C. R.
NEW YORK CITY
@svecaterveanl aa
DETROIT, MICH.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.
Jamaica - 1941.
Apr. 18 - 22. Om board the United Fruit boat "Talamanca",
Left pier 9, North River at 4.00 PM, in clear weather,
As soon as we were clear of the slip, I started to hunt
for Julia Stewart who was registered as a passenger,
She was sitting in a deck chair and failed to recognize
me when I spoke to her. After introducing myself, we got
along fine. We arranged to sit at the same table at
meals and we got our deck chairs together. We entered th
shuffleboard tournament as partners and won, her prize
being a bedroom lamp and mine a combination jigger, ice
hammer, bottle opener and corkscrew, The cruise passen-
gers were average.
Apr. 22. Docked at Kingston at 10.45 AM. We were in sight
of Morent Light at 5.30 and I stayed on deck til break-
fast picking out spots that I could recognize. The
mountains were completely enveloped in fog at first but
by 7.00 the fog was rising and soon all but the tops of
the peaks were clear. Boat stopped at Port Royal to let
the immigration officers come aboard. We were divided
into two groups, British citizens and aliens. All aliens
who had British visas were given landing cards, those
without were required to remain on the boat while it was
in harbour. My Special Passport with courtesy visa from
the British Embassy made things very easy and I was told.
that I would be under no restrictions while on the is-
land. I signed a declaration stating that I had no Brit-
ish money and $575.00 in U. S. currency. When I leave
the island I will have to sign a declaration that I am
taking away from the island no more money than I brought
ine There was no one on the dock that I could recognize
so I went straight to Customs, saying goodbye to Julia
who goes on ti Cristobal to meet Dale who is coming up
from Peru. First I put through a telephone call to the
Hope station but Edwards was out. Then I called the Jam-
aica Institute and made contact with C. Bernard Lewis,
Curator of Natural History. We arranged that he would
call for me at 1.50 PM with his car. Pretty soon my
baggage was all together and the inspection wes made.
My camera, which had been taken from me before we entered
British territorial waters, wes returned and I was told ~
what I would have to do about films before I could leave
the islend. All was very pleasant, even the reporter
from the Gleaner who asked for a statement as to my
attitude on an “all out aid to Britain" policy. I man-
aged to sidestep the issue. Waited about an hour for
Lewis, who arrived on time and with my baggage in his
car we left for the Institute. He had a meeting at 3.00
and I wandered about Kingston renewing my acquaintance
ee Cm Ne ae a ee ree, os i lll aa
eS a x EE _—_ ee ee Te ar
2
with the shops. lhe nice place on Harbour Street where
the best Wedgwood was to be obtained in 1937 is gone
completely and Gick's is no longer in evidence. Lewis
tells me that Gick has lost interest in photography and
is spending all of his time at the local broadcasting
station. About 4 PM I remembered that I had had nothing
to eat since morning, so to the Dixie Doodle for a sand-«
wich and some ice-cream. Then back to the Institute in
time to meet the Board of Directors, just as the meeting
broke up. About 5 PM, Lewis and I went to 2 Piccadilly
Road to look at a room that was available. I was satis-
fied and closed with Mrs. F. L. Dignum for the sum of
é
ys ¥ ee
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2 Piccadilly Road, Cross Roads P. 0.
Iwo pounds ten a week. Then back to the Institute to
get my baggage. After getting settled, I had tea, for~
getting that dinner would be served in half an hour.
The food was plentiful and well cooked, though the cook
has a heavy hand on the pepper and curry powder. Lewis
is going to Goat Island (in the American Reservation)
tomorrow and has invited me to go along. There are
already four persons at 2 Piccadilly Road; Mrs. Florence
L. Dignum, widow of the late Assistant Colonial Secretary,
her 19 year old daughter, Faith and Dick Doubleday, visit-~
ing the island from Vancouver, B. C. The fourth member
does not really count. He is a Mr. Radix, english, very
ill bred and not much in evidence. I have a large room
on the west side, opening onto a side porch and separated
from it by jalousies. There are no mosquito bars but am
told that the mosquitoes are rarely bothersome. A flit
gun is available.
o
April 23. Lewis called for me at 6.45 AM and I was ready.
Went first to the Institute to pick up two Cayman Islend
negroes, Norris and Mac. These were two of Lewis' help
Mrs. D. and Faith. Dick Doubleday.
during his expedition to the Caymans. Then the four
of us drove to Old Harbour Bay, through Spanish Town
and Old Harbour. While the others were unloading the
car, I stepped back into the bush and collected a
colony of Crematogaster from a hollow branch. We packed
our few supplies about three hundred yards to the shore
where the launch was waiting. Before going aboard, we
went up shore to look at a young manatee that a fisher-
man had brought in. It was still alive and looked to
be in good health so Lewis arranged to buy it for the
Institute's zoo. Leaving shore, we first came abreast
of Little Goat Island, already cleared for occupation.
The barracks have been built but is not yet occupied
because of the plague of sand flies. Great Goat has
been surveyed but no great amount of clearing has been
done yet. We landed at about the middle of the east
side and dumped most of our stuff. So far as Lewis is
concerned, the object of the trip was (1) to collect
_livimg specimens of the Jamaican Iguana (Cyclura jamai-
eensig) and (2) to cut sample logs of various species of
native hardwoods. This island is the last stand of the
Iguana and when the occupation of the island is completed
‘by the U. S. Navy there won't be any lizards left nor
many trees. there is a path, though a very rough one,
4
right to the top and there the U. S. Coast and Geo-
- detic Survey has constructed a tower about 40 feet |
high. We climbed the tower and had a grand view of
the whole American base, as well as of the hills as
far back as the Blue Mountains. After coming down
from the tower I was too tired to start out right
away so we cut the flower spike out of a "coratoe"
or May Pole (Agave sobolifera S.-D.). ‘The flowers form
a pyramidal spike four feet high by two feet through,
at the end of the leafless ten foot pole. The plant
exudes a gelatinous sap that gets all over everything.
I nearly caught Norris with my cutlass when it slipped
out of my grasp because of the goo. The flowers were
swarming with small insects, mostly Anthicidae. Having
finished the spike, Lewis suggested that we go back
through the bush instead of along the path, in hope of
finding an iguana. So we started down over the honey-
comb rock, very rough and unpleasant to fall on, cute
ting our way through the thorn bushes and cacti, Half
way down, a large iguana surprised us by jumping from
the crotch of a tree, fully five feet above ground.
This was the first direct evidence that Lewis had that
the iguana could climb, though a statement to that ef-
fect had been published in 1851. We failed to get the
lizard and continued down to the shore path. I worked
my way slowly along the path to where we had landed and
immediately stripped and lay down in the water to soak.
Our drinking water had given out and I was dry. After
20 minutes in the water I felt much better and was all
ready when the launch returned at 2.30 with a fresh
supply of water, beer and ginger ale. Collected termites,
ants, dragonflies, shells, etc. until 5.15 when we left,
going the long wey around and having a fine view of both
the Goat Islands. Got away in the car at 6.30 and re-
turned to 2 Piccadilly Road without incident. Dinner
was waiting for me and after dinner we had a call from
Ivan; he was living with the Wooler's in 1937, Fixed my
catch, wrote up my notes and to bed at 10.00.
April 24. First of all went to the Jamaica Auto Association
to meet Miss Nixon and Mr. Duquesnay. He offerfed a
1937 Ford coupe for Six pounds a week. We went first
to a photographer for a sitting (finished prints to be
ready in one hour), then to the National Bank of Canada
for $100 in British (Iwentyfour pounds, thirteen shillings
and four pence), back to the J A A to prepare the papers
(rental of car and application for driver's permit),
back to the photographer where the prints were ready
(in less than en hour) and to the traffic Bureau. No
trouble in getting permit (Ten shillings). Back to the
J AA to get the car and then back to the Institute.
Se eee ee) ee Oe eee ee ey ee eee
The first thing to do was to put away the sea-urchins
that I collected at Goat Island. They had been too
long out of preservative and were quite high, though
not as bad as Bernard's crab { The urchins were very
abundant on the mud layer in among the mangroves. Some
had even crawled up onto the mangrove roots. When I
went in for my swim I found it difficult to avoid step-
ping onto them, in fact I did sit on a couple, but the
mud was so soft and the urchin's spines so short and
blunt that no damage was done. I found Norris flat on
his back in considerable pain. He had apparently hurt
himself lifting and carrying logs. We all hope for a
quick recovery. Started for 2 Piccadilly Road for a
late lunch. It proved to be a very late lunch because
I lost myself and drove all over creation before finding
a landmark that I could recognize. Finally found myself
on the Spanish Town road and worked my way to Cross Roads
from there. After lunch drove to Hope and had a good
telk with Edwards and Dixon, mostly about termites. It
was suggested that I meet the new Director, Jones, late
of Trinidad. He was a welcome relief after my experience
of 1937 with Barnes. This time I was asked to sit down
and with Edwards, the three of us had a very pleasant and
satisfactory discussion
of the entomological prob-
lems of the island. It is
evident that Edwards will
be encouraged to do some
real research if he is so
inclined and can probably
get the funds to publish
it in the station journal.
Probably my imagination
but there seems to be a
better atmosphere about
the office of the entomo-
logist than there was at
the time of my last visit.
Made arrangements with
Dixon to go out with him
to see the major termite
infestations in Kingston.
In 1938, Dixon was made
Senior Assistant and given
the termites as his parti-
cular problem. We will also
try to get out onto the Pal-
isadoes before I leave and
W. B. Dixon. investigate a species that
is living in the dead
Acacia branches there. I left the station about 4 PM and
drove home by way of 5 Cargill Ave. to call on the Woolers.
At
a
a» (tae
Mrs. Wooler was out for tea and dinner and Eleanor,
now Mrs. John Blennerhassett, and Mannie were just
leaving for some tennis. A letter from Marjorie was
waiting for me and with that I departed for Piccadilly
Road where I had orange juice in lieu of hot tea. Mar-
jorie has been transferred, more or less permanently,
to Frome, the location of the large sugar factory of
the West India Sugar Co., Ltd. That means that I will
work the region about Alley from Kingston or perhaps
from Mendez Pen. I answered the note, asking for in-
formation about stopping places in or near Sav-la-Mar.
That would put me half way between Bluefields and Negril
and J shall want to work both of those regions.
Before dark, I wandered around the place and collect-
ed five or six species of ants. Dinner about 8 and bed
about 10.
April 25. Left house at 7.30 and started for Annotto Bay.
Just beyond Half Way Tree, took the left or old Stony
Hill road which rums over Mammee Hill. Commenced road-
side collecting as soon as I was away from dwellings.
At a point about a mile below Bellevue I found two logs
at the side of the road both of which had colonies of
convexinotetus Snyd. When I had scooped
the termites I could see many small brown larviform
animals crawling about in the galleries. A series of
about 70 specimens were taken and the species was later
identified by H. G. Barber and H. Morrison as belong-
ing to the genus Termitaspis (Heteroptera). As far as
I know, this is the first termitophile to be taken on
the islend. There was also a nest of Pheidole fallax
var. ovalis Forel in the same logs. Moved on to a ford
just above Bellevue and about 1 mile SE of Stony Hill.
As the collecting proved quite good, I decided to stay
there for the day. Just before reaching the ford, my
eye fell on a peculiar carton nest up the bank from the
road. It proved to be Nasutitermes but seemed out of
place. It was about 14 inches in diameter, hemispher-
ical and partly below ground. It enclosed a small
stump. The species appears to be N. costalis and the
ground habitat may be normal for this species. At the
ford I took a good series of a tingid and various mis-
cellaneous insects by sweeping. Under stones there were
colonies of various species of ants, including Euponera,
Odontomachus, Anochetus and Cyphomyrmex. Away from the
road and along a path leading into the woods I fowd a
very old log that contained larvae and adults of Macras-
pis tetradactyla. After lunch I continued collecting
until the rain became too hard and wet the foliage too
much. Between showers I pushed on toward Ston Hida.
stopping once at a small grove of cacao. Very little
7
to be found beneath the pods; they were either too green
or too dry. Jumped across a small stream into a citrus
grove where I took a few coccinellids by sweeping. Back
: to town by way of Stony Hill and Constant Spring. Stopped
( in at 5 Cargill Ave. for a very pleasant visit with Mrs.
Wooler, which included tea and later a scotch and soda,
Then back to Piccadilly Road for a bath and dinner. During
dinner the phone rang and Mrs. Bovell was on the other end,
She came over immediately and we went for a slow ride in
her Austin, ending at Watts for a Cocomalt. I am invited
to come to Mendez Pen at any time and to stay for as long
as I care to. Also I am to write to Kensworth and invite
myself for overnight when I go to Sav-La-Mar. Mrs. Bovell
thinks that I should put off the west end trip for awhile
because Marjorie may get a house and if she does that would
be more pleasant than a guest house. She also told me of
the bust up at Caymanas - P. A. was fired on six days notice.
He didn't tell her for two days, by which time he had made
such arrangements as he wished. He was to go to Derry with
Marjorie, the Savariaus were to be transferred to Kensworth
and Mrs. Bovell was to go to Mendez or any other place that
appealed to her (except Derry). The thought that Marjorie
would get a job of her own probably never entered his head.
But she did and he has been alone now for two years. We
parted company at 11 PM.
April 26. Reached Hope at 9 AM and Edwards, Dixon and I started
out to inspect termite infestations. First to the freight |
docks where both Coptotermes and Heterotermes are working in
the piling. While not confined to them, the outer piles
show a much greater tendency to infestation than those nearer
in shore. The location of the queen cell is in doubt; it
does not seem possible that it can be on land and connected
to the outer piles (nearly an eighth of a mile away) by tun-
nels. Next to the bonded warehouse of Wray and Nephews.
It is a long low building containing about a million gallons
of rum, stored in vats holding 40,000 gallons each. The
vats weigh about 25 tons a piece and are supported on a
trestle made of 10 x 10 timbers, which have been heavily
creosoted. These timbers are generally infested by Copto-
termes and the problem of eradication is a difficult one.
No poison may be used nor any insecticide with an odor that
might be absorbed by the rum. No plan of campaign has been
worked out yet. Then to the Low Temperature Station where
the original infestation of Coptotermes was found. There
was no sign of recent activity there and that colony is
probably completely killed out. Dixon has a “eraveyard test"
area on the lawn near the Station and examined many of the
wood billets. Some of the hardwoods are showing immunity
to Heterotermes. From there back to Hope where I had left
my car and to Piccadilly Road for lunch. Just after 2 PM
Bria
P 4
lie « *
8 "se
x
_ "i
1
Mr. and Mrs. Edwards called for me and we started for >
an overnight trip to the north shore. As we passed
through Spanish Town I noticed that the King's House
seemed to be rebuilt but later I learned that only the
front wall and portico had been replaced. The repaired
building is not nearly as picturesque as the ruins were —
but the change was probably necessary in order to pre-
serve whet was left. At Linstead we left the main road
to visit a place that was infested with duck-eants. We
found that a shed where box shakes were stored was well
overrun with Nasutitermes (later identified as N. costa-
lis). The colony had gained entrance beneath the sill *
in the far corner and there was no carton nest to be |
seen any where around. Then back on the main road, through
Ewarton, to Moneague. Here we turned off to stop at the
Moneague Hotel for a talk with the Commissioner of Edu-
cation. After leaving the hotel we made no further stops
until we reached Runaway Bay and Eaton Hall. We regis-
tered and were assigned to rooms and immediately prepared
for a swim. The water on the north shore is distinctly
colder than that on the south and was really invigorating.
After our swim we had beers around, then dinner and to
bed early.
April 27, Up at 6.50 for an early swim. The Edwards were
to meet me in the water but they slept over and I paddled
around the cove for an hour before I saw either of them.
Then breakfast and afterwards I went out on the rocks to
collect. Some ants and a sample of marine gastropods
were all that I could find. Paid our bills (mine was
twelve shillings and one and six for tips) and left for
Seville, now a large coconut walk but originally the site
of the first Roman Catholic cathedral (1505). The foun-
dations have been cleared and in the center of the floor
there is hole about six feet across and ten feet deep,
carefull walled with brick, from which a passage leads
away to the west. In this passage were found a dozen
pieces of very beautifully carved stone, probably the
remains of the altar. One piece has the coat-of-arms
of the Bishop of Seville, the others are mostly angels
and cherubims. No attempt has been made to explore the
passage 3} These stones are now in a shed near Seville
house but it is hoped that the owner will see fit to put
them in the Institute. On the way out of the estate we
collected a sample of the duck-ants that are ruining the
few canes that Seville grows. The infestation is not a
new one, if the old records can be interpreted to mean
“white ants" when they read “ants". Very early Seville
was abandoned by the Spaniards because of a plague of
"ants" and the whole district was known as the "ants nest",
Coconuts seem to get along all right but no quantity of
TREO ee ee
9
canes can be grown in this region. From Seville we
drove to the Edwards' new place near St. Ann's Bay
where they are building a new sumner place on a low
cliff overlooking the water, This particular cove
is supposed to be where the Nina foundered and was
called "Casa Nina" by the Spaniards. We went in for
another swim but it was not particularly pleasant as
there is no sand at all and the coral rock is very
Sharp. Had lunch and did a bit of sweeping, getting
a few good things. Also collected a sample of snails
from the rocks. Right by the house there is the mouth
of an underground stream and Edwards is trying to dig
a channel from the sea to the mouth of this stream so
that he will have a safe anchorage for a small boat.
A great deal of blasting is involved and that seems to
involve a large amount of red tape. It appears that
at least two government officials must be present when
dynamite is used anywhere on the island. We left at
@ PM , headed for Ocho Rios. At White River I found
a log on the beach which contained a colony of Hetero-
termes convexinotatus but no termitophiles. We stopped
again to make a short call on ir Hutchins, who was
about to make a trip to Boston, his original home. He
seemed like a nice chap and certainly has a nice place.
Back across the island by way of Fern Gully. After
going through Spanish Town we turned up the Sligoville
road to another place of Edwards. This is a 500 acre
pimento estate with a fair house. The collecting was
reasonably good and I beat the shrubbery while Edwards
tended to some business matters. Then back to Pacca-
dilly Road, having left my fountain pen at Eaton Hall
and my bathing trunks in Edwards' car. Had dinner and
in the evening Bernard and Lucille called and we talked
over the plans for the trip to Cinchona. Lewis can
get in four days and perhaps Norris will come along.
We will go there by way of Chestervale and Clydesdale,
sending our duffle to Cinchona by: mule, while we walk.
Lewis wants to look over the buildings at Clydesdale
because they have an offer of one of them for a station.
If it works out properly, Lynn, Buck and company will
make it their headquarters when they come down later
in the season. We will use the Forestry cabin at Cin-
chona because Christopher Swabey will probably be in
the party.
April 28, Phone call early from Lewis that the new sea
cow was dead and did I wish to do a post mortem on it,
I finished labelling yesterday's catch and got ready
to go down. Mrs. Dignum found that her car batteries
were dead again (short circuit somewhere that hasn't been
found) and I gave her a lift down town. Dropped her
Seer >
LO
near the Institute. I found the manatee out of the
tank and on a table under the windows of the library
where the readers would get all the smells. I made
the first incision as carefully as possible but the
gas pressure was very strong and I didn't quite get
out of the way. Bernard wanted to save the skeleton
so I cut carefully and eventually laid open the ab-
dominal cavity and cut away the diaphragm. The har-
poon had gone in much deeper than we thought, driving
through the lungs and into the abdominal cavity. The
liver and spleen had both disintegrated and the lumgs
were completely collapsed. A general postmortem was
of course not possible but the stomach and the alimentary
tract were opened and examined. The stomach contained
a few nematodes, was otherwise empty. The small intes-
tine was unusually cleen and contained only two nemas
that probably represented postmortem migration from the
stomach. The caeca were double, very short end clean.
The colon was heavily infested, as was to be expected,
with the amphistome fluke, Chiorchis fabaceus. While
I was in the midst of the mess, a very pleasant young
women in a spandy clean white dress appeared and wanted
to help. Bernard introduced her as one of the science
teachers and believe me she was a glutton for knowledge
and no shirker of dirty work. She did her share til the
job was over at 12.50 and I am sure that she regretted
that the other animals in the zoo were all healthy. We
washed in formaldehyde but the smell stayed on my hands
for days. From the Institute I went to El Corte Ingles
for a suit and white pants. Then to lunch at Piccadilly
Road. Drove to Mendez Pen, arriving at about 3 PM. Mrs.
Bovell found an old pair of pants and a polo shirt that
belonged to Don. We walked over the property, getting
into some of the thickest tangles of thorn bushes and
high grass that I have seen on the island. The trees
are small, mostly logwood with quite a good new grouth
of lignum-viteae that Mrs Bovell is encouraging. By and
large, for a cattle pen it is free from ticks as I found
only one seed on me that night. There is good pasturage
and the place pays enough so that the mortgage is being
reduced regularly. Just at present everything was dry
and there was no collecting. We talked til seven when
I started back to Kingston. Got off the road at Span-
ish Town and sew all the back roads in the place before
I got back on the main road. Left main road at the
turn to Half Way Tree and so to Piccadilly Road. A good
dinner at eight and to bed early. Tomorrow Dixon and
I plan to do some termite inspection at the Institute
and elsewhere.
11
April 29. Raining softly when I woke up and the bad
weather continued nearly until noon. After lunch
I went to Hope to meet Dixon and before starting
out we looked at some of the new buildings on the
New Insectary at Hope.
station grounds. there is a new insectary that will
help to stimulate rearing work and there are two
Termite Control Demonstration buildings.
small houses so constructed as to show good and bad
practices in reference to termite infestation and
control. For instance, each foundation post is dif-
12
ferently constructed and a small label nearby tells why
the construction is good or bad. The sides of the buil-
dings have been used to demonstrate different surface
finishes and in each case a statement showing cost per
gallon, coverage per gallon and cost per square foot is
given, with remarks on the effectiveness of the finish,
After viewing the buildings, we started out, going
first to the Institute. While Dixon traced an infesta-=
tion of Coptotermes havilandi from basement to attic of
the old building, Lewis and I talked over plans for the
Cinchona trip. He will see Swabey this afternoon and try
to set a date. I also had time to do a little more buy-
ing at El Corte Ingles before Dixon was ready to go back.
He dropped me at Piccadilly Road for lunch. After lunch
I took a tram to Hope to get my car, left there in the
morning. It took nearly an hour to get from Piccadilly
Road to Hope by tram, whereas by car I make it in twelve
minutes. With the car, I ran up the old Stony Hill road
to the ford. Sweeping was pretty good along the road-
side; took a Palaminus and some other staphylinids as
well as some ants. Went back to Piccadilly Road in time
to have a bath before dinner. Bed early.
April 50. Good Gravy, what a night last night was ! Lewis
came late, on his way to another engagement. Weather per-
mitting, we were to go to Cuna Cuna today and to Cinchona
a week from today. Both Lewis and Swabey can go if the
trip is put off until then. After Lewis left, a local
enthusiast appeared with a collection of poorly spread
and completely unlabelled butterflies and a few other in-
sects. He had a specimen of Triatoma but nothing else
that interested me. He talked on and on until 11.45.
Rain had started about 10.30 and kept up until early morn-
ing, coming in very hard gusts. About midnight the tele-
phone reng, announcing the death in childbirth of Evers-
ley's sister, Corita. Mrs. Dignum felt that she had to
go over to stay with Corita'ts mother and the rest of us,
unable to be of any help, went to bed. The rain had driven
the mosquitoes in and I tossed about until nearly dawn.
Mrs. Dignum came home about 6.30 AM and set about to make
six dozen chicken and shrimp patties and about 500 hors
dtoeuvres for a wedding, these to be ready by noon. Mrs.
Bovell called to make sure that I had not gone up into
the hills and was washed away. Lewis called to cancel
the trip to Cuna Cuna as some of the roads are sure to
be washed out. the rain continued off and on all day.
Bathed and changed for dimer. At about 8.30 Bernard
and Lucille came for me and we went to see Pygmalion.
As they had both been up until three (they live with
Eversley), both slept more orf less through the picture.
13
May 1. Left Piccadilly Road at 8.50 to go to Hope. Dixon
was just leaving for home; he was apparently coming down
with measles. Edwards was late and at 9.10 I went to
his home where I found him supervising some construc-
tion about the place. He is apparently dabbling in
real estate. In 1957, he was living partly at the Pa-
goda (burned down this spring) and partly in the house
on Hope Road next door to the place he is in now. Then
they were busy repairing that house and as soon as it
was in good livable condition they rented it and took
over the present place, also greatly in need of repair.
Further they have
bought the place
on the north shore
and the pimento es-
tate near Sligoville
Nes. Edwards found
my bathing trunks
and verified my sus-
picion that the pen
had been left at
Eaton Hall. Saying
Good-bye, I started
for Annotto Bay,
this time by the
good road through
Constant Spring.
A mile beyond Stony
Hill I stopped at a
banana walk where
there were several
banana stalks down
on the ground and
partly decayed.
Collecting was very
good. Took a few
ants, some staphy-
linids and Metama-
Ripe mangoes. sius. Also took
specimens of the
giant histerid, Plesius javanus, a predatory species re-
cently introduced into the island for the control of the
banana borer. Later when I reported the capture to Dix-
on, he told me that after repeated failures in their
attempts to establish the species on the island, the
colony planted near Stony Hill had taken hold and that
this year, more specimens had been recovered there than
had been planted out originally. We hope that the Ple-
Sius controls the Metamasius before the Panama disease
wipes out the banana, Moved on but did not stop at
Castleton Gardens as there were several bus loads of
| 14
tourists in. At the last fork in the road, I turned left
to Port Maria instead of going on to Annotto Bay. I had
decided to collect along the shore road between Port Maria
and Runaway Bay and to stop at Eaton Hall to recover my pen,
Collecting was best at Dunn's River, so I stopped there _
to eat lunch. then on to Eaton Hall where I found my pen
waiting for me. At about 2.30 I started back, turning at
Ocho Rios. Near Lime Hall I picked up a colored physician
who was waiting for a bus to take him to Linstead. He was
pleasant and quite talkative, confining his remarks to the
war, its causes and effects, and the probable chance that
the U. S. A. would eventually take over Jamaica. He was
all for it. I said as little as possible but in general
agreed with his observations. In fact, most of the natives
that I have talked with feel strongly that the island would
be better off if attached to us. Store clerks in the stores
are very solicitous when they learn that I am from the U. S.
but that is of course front. It would be treason to say
anything that might in any way postpone our entry into the
war. The English say little about the possibility of the
secession of the island to the U. S. but I am sure that
they will all oppose it. After dropping him at Linstead,
I was immediately picked up by the police for inspection
of my driver's permit. This, I understand, is routine and
may happen at any time. Back in Half Way Tree without inci-
cents where I stopped at the Wooler's to say that I would
be in town next Sunday and would be pleased to go there for
tea and dinner. Then to Piccadilly Road for a bath. There
was a letter from Lucy waiting for me that had come from
South Hadley to Kingston in 28 hours. That seems to me to
be remarkably fast service. Bernard brought it from the
Institute and left word that we will go to Portland Ridge
on Saturday. Mrs. Dignum showed me a chair that was infest-
ed with Cryptotermes brevis (Walk.) and allowed me to cut
away sufficient wood to get at the colony. I recovered a
series of workers and one soldier. The "crazy ants" fol-
lowed me right into the burrows and the next morning the
colony seemed completely destroyed.
May 2. A light rain on the plain and could see heavy rains
in the hills. Went down to the Institute and found that
“Lady Nugent's Journal" has been reprinted with extensive
notes by Frank Cundall and is available for seven and six
so I bought a copy. Also Lewis gave me a copy of "Mosquit-
oes of Jamaica” that I will turn in to the Division library
or give to Alan Stone. Sherlock and Lewis urged me to give
a talk some evening to the Institute's membership on any
subject that I might pick. I agreed to speak on "Biological
Control" but not until I have returned from Sav-La-Mar. Lack
of lantern slides will handicap me and it may not go well.
iin iain aaa
15
Worked over my notes and specimens in the afternoon.
Reached Edwards' place at 6.50 and found several guests
already assembled. Jones and his wife were there and
we all talked over our cocktails. Later Pomeroy and
his daughter appeared and the rest of the evening was
spent listening to him and looking at the Kodachrome
moving pictures (mostly underexposed and all of local
interest). I remember that in 1937 I was also afflicted
with Pomeroy under the same circumstances. At eight we
all departed and I had dinner at Piccadilly Road.
May 3. Bernard called for me at 7 AM and we started for
Portland Ridge for the day.
He is looking for sizable
deposits of bat guano as a
source of phosphate and he
also has a line on a bauxite
deposit. We took the main
road to Old Harbour, then the
first left to Alley and around
the bay nearly to the point.
Just beyond the sign post "To
the Cave" we parked the car in
the bush near a path up to the
top of the ridge. The rock is
honeycomb, like that on Goat
Island and the vegetation is
guite similar. Started up the
path, packing our supplies on
our backs. Made two collec-
tions of Nasutitermes along
the path, one colony living in
a carton nest in a tree beside
the path and the other coming
from a hole in the ground,
C. Bernard Lewis Half way up I took a sample of
Nasutitermes from under bark
of a small standing dead tree, in the sound wood of which
I found a fine colony of a Cryptotermes, different from
Cryptotermes brevis Walk. As the species is certainly new
to the island and perhaps new to science, I cut out and
saved a piece of the wood showing the galleries. We missed
the turn off for the cave and climbed nearly to the top of
the ridge. While Bernard scouted around to locate the
opening of the cave, I cut down and dissected a bromeliad,
finding a few crustaceans similar to Asellus and one cater-
pillar. Also opened a standing dead tree and found colonies
of two different species of Kalotermes. There was a small
scorpion under the bark which I got. In the meantime, the
mouth of the cave had been located and we started back down.
The cave is the largest that I have ever been in, about
16 :
450 feet long, 150 feet wide and perhaps 70 feet to
the highest point of the roof. It was open at both
ends and there were at least three small holes in the
roof, gr a Ee er ee Re Om EE te om
A ite. “Tr8 re. ' a AT Zi - Y ont yt oe - c — “t 4 = ries Sie *y pe sy ~ r “aN wo +4 re a es od ees’ ae “+ 7e A
Thy £ OR? AT am % Oi Lite dsb e Util i i dhe RMU bond Wy Tea: £ Wz J Pu Padi.
: Seo if 7 7 ed ad + fy og " Se ee et eee ee
Durin: tue wee: of Aurust 25th, 1940, a oarty of seven.
teen took pvart in a field triy sxonsorec by the Institute of Jdameica.
-
That party of people has formed the nucleus of the xatural History
-Society of Jamaica which row numbers 35 members, Realising that no
exverts on the Jamaican flora and fauna were available, the objects of
the field trip were to poolmwformation and to learn toxsthcr, =. .
Dh! The Great House and the Coffee House at Clydesdale served
as headquarters for a full week of Nature Study, The valley of the Olye
River and the Blue Moun yg*p regions of Cinchona, New Haven Gap, Morce's
Cap and Silver Hill, were explored. and collections of the flora. and
fauna were made, Mr. C,S3wabey, the Conservator of Forests, guided the
field work and discussions for a full day devoted to the study of. soil
erosion and congervation, | |
| Resulting from the enthusiasm shown by those wha partici-
nated in this first. venture, a meeting was held at the Institute on
Seotember 17th, 1940 te discuss future undertakings, Av that time it was
unanimously decided to form a Society, and it was arrced that regular)
field trips would be degirable anc useful, especially for Science
teachers, bee
A second field trip was sponsored by the Institute of
Jamaica, from January 2nd to Sth, in conjunction with the inaugural
mocting of the Society which took place on the evening of January 4th.
Mr, Fraser, the Hoadmastcr of Munro College, very kindly oiferec: the
facilitics of the School as headquarters Tor this programme,
Foundation members ars those persons who were present at
tic inaugural meeting: Mr, and Mrs. C,B,Lewis, Misses M. and I, Jerfirey
Smith, DRainforth, 0, and Z,Saxtcr, V,%hsvannes, D,Alexander, : B.Drevw,
NwMNash, M,Davson, C,Coolec, L,Scucamore, Messrs, R,P,Bengry, W,M.snce,
J,C.Jury, C.Swaboy, D,Burrowes, and #,fai, ~- Mr, Raymond Philipsen, of
tie British Muscum (Nat, Hist. } who visited Jamaiea with the Cambridse
Univorsity Expedition in 1939, was also clected a foundatiom member,
i, The objcct of the new Soolcty is the encouragement and *
advancement of the study of Natural History la Jamaica, The constitution
or the Society is tiven on the membership card, | :
ANS WOR 3 MM Q
PL: ‘fs) il OR SU: i oe
ER Re RRR Ree entree Be ae Oe ae
LQO OO A A I TD
“Ie are »oroposing to hold a Nature Study Camp with head-
cuarters at Clydesdale, duriig the last two weeks of Auvust, Actually, we
hooe that this camp will come to be an annual fixture which will ccvelop
a useful vrovramie of study furthering the aims af the Society," °>" <>. -
.. Glydesdale seems to be a very suitasle sot for. the, camp
for sovoral reagons:- (1) It is removed from settlements yet it is. fairly
aceessizle and can be avproached, to within a mile, by car. (2) Accammoda
tion is fairly substantial. (3) The valley of thg Clyde River is provavly
the best wooded in the Blue Mountzin area. (4) The heait-ef the Blue Moun
tains can easily be reached from Clydesdale, (5) The Clyde River provides
water for drinking and bathing as well as an ooportunity for the study of
acuatic lifs. (6) The problems of erosion anc soil conservation are.well
illustrateé in the region, (7) The climate is cool and invigorating.
| ‘The prosramme will include much field work, talks by, the
members, ond discussion #%roups, Uccassionally visiting sqicntists may ve
jnduecec to spoak and to take a jcneral part in the prozramne, We hops. that
rescarch studies ean be developed, ana we inbead to set tejether sone .
scisnutific apvaratus With this ena i: vio. : aay:
The Executive Committce will be very glad to have the vicws
of members resarding the summer camp proposals,
a. ae
. r x)
ey
oA a
/ =
, bh '] >
i
“%
22
Mey 10. Up at 6,30 to write up notes and label specimens
taken yesterday. A good breakfast was served by Lucille
and after clearing away, we all started for Monkey Hill
by way of New Haven Gap. The trails have been nicely
bushed out, thanks to an arrangment of Swabey's and the
walking was very good, always up, of course. Near the
cabin we passed through a long avenue of pine trees,
apparently several species. Some of the trees had died
and their stumps were inhabited by a species of Kalo-
termes, just ready to swarm. I took good series, inclu-
ding winged adults and soldiers. The weather was fine
when we started but as we gained altitude the clouds
beceme heavier. Yellow raspberries were frequent along
the trail, as they had been below Cinchona. On the last
ridge, half a mile from New Haven Gap the rain commenced
and it was soon necessary to take shelter under the
braken ferns at the side of the trail. The rain came
harder and harder and we finally gave up and turned back,
soaked to the skin and a bit chilly. At just under 6000
feet I took two dealated termites in a cavity in a hard
dead tree trunk, my highest record for any termite on
the island. It was raining too hard to collect on the way
back so we almost ran back to the cabin. Changed to
dry clothing and played cards until dinner. While Lucille
got dinner, we took all of the wet clothing and dried it
before the open fire in the front room. Bed early.
May ll. Up at 6 for breekfast and an early start along
the trail to Morces Gap. First stop was to strip the
bark from a fallen tree; nothing of interest except a
colony of a small black ant. A little farther on there
was a standing dead stump which was full of termites,
Neotermes sp. We cut it to pieces and were doing quite
well by ourselves when Bernard cut his fingers on my
cutlass. He went back to the cabin for iodine and I
stayed to work over the stump thoroughly. Found a few
soldiers. Before Bernard returned, I moved on to a
second and similer stump which contained more of the
same kind of termite. However, could find no soldiers
in the second colony. By the time I finished there, -
Bernard came back and we worked along the path, turning
stones. Poor collecting, one carabid and two roaches.
We stopped for a time at the entrance to a glen and
after clearing away a rank grouth of ginger lilies,
we found the collecting in the leaf cover fairly good.
Took a series of a dark chestnut brown amphipod. another
carabid, a very beautiful coral-red and black lycid lar-~
va and some roaches. Farther on along the trail we
found a place where there was a scorpion under almost
every stone. Then the rain started and we turned back.
EFroke camp and got away at 5.30, reaching the car at
Chestervale at 7, just as it became dark. The drive
cown the road from Newcastle to Gordontown was both exciting
and beautiful, with Kingston right at our feet all of the
waye Reached Piccadilly Road at 9.30, had a bath and went
to bed.
High Peak (The Peaks at extreme right) from Cinchona.
May 12. Much too lame to do any strenuous work today.
Put away the Cinchona catch, wrote up my notes and a
letter to Clara. In the afternoon, went to the Myrtle
Bank for a swim. In the evening before dinner the porch
at 2 Piccadilly was full of visitors and I escaped by
driving over to Swabey's with Bernard to return keys to
Clydesdale, hampers, etc. Swabey's wife still on danger
list. Back to the house for dinner and early bed.
May 15. Woke up feeling good, hardly lame at all. After
breakfast drove to Ferry River for a morning of collect-
ing. Took two more of the scarabs, some orthoptera, bees,
Chrysops etc. After lunch went to Hope and made arrang-
ment with Edwards to hang some traps at Highgate where
there is some star-apple. Then to the Institute where
Lewis and I went over the insect collection. It is in
very bad shape but there is much that is worth salvaging.
Lack of definite locality labels is the chief fault, out-
side of the damage from dermestids, In the evening, Bernard
came over and I answered questions as best I could on the
collection and preservation of the various groups of insects.
Bed about ten. Tomorrow I go to Kensworth.
t
24
May 14. Started for Kensworth at eight o'clock. Stopped
at Mendez Pen to tell Mrs. Bovell my plans. She may
come to Frome later on but can't get away now. Left
Mendez at 9.30 and drove straight through to Kensworth
(except once when I lost my way) and reached there at
11.50. Had a very pleasant reunion with the Savariaus.
Miss Mary and Miss Hermance.
Hermance is now 84
and Maix 74, both in
very good health.
They are quite lonely
and welcome visitors.
We had a nice lunch
and while they took
their afternoon naps
I did some collecting
in front of the house
near the grapefruit
orchard. Came back
to the house at 3.30
for tea, just as the
rain started. It cone
tinued to rain all
night, with a heavy
fog. The peenies
flew continuously in
the rain and many
were attracted to my
cigarette. I could
see the reddish ven-
tral light plainly,
especially when one
flew low over the
porch floor, We all
went to bed early
and I slept well in spite of a few peenies that got in
to the room and zoomed about with all lights on.
May 15. Started for Sav-La-Mar at eight thirty, stopping
in Newport for nine gallons of gasoline. Went on by way
of Knockpatrick, Spur Tree, Santa Cruz, Lacovia and the
bamboo walk, Luana, Speculetion and Bluefields. Stopped
to collect just east of Santa Cruz where I took termites
and tenebrionids. Also some Aleocharines in soft fungus
on log. Stopped again for lunch and to collect at Blue-
fields Bay. After lunch, drove directly to Frome and
found Marjorie. She hadn't changed a bit in four years
and I flagged her down as she went by in a car. She turned
back to Fontabelle, where she is living, and we talked
for half an hour after which she returned to work and i
went to SaveLa-Mar to find a place to stay. Was accepted
at Windsor, where I settled my belongings and had a shave
25
and wash, wrote up notes to date and put away the
specimens taken along the way. Started back to Frome
at 4.15 for tea and dinner with Marjorie. She and @
a
Fontabelle Great House, Frome,
young girl, Joan Whittaker, have Fontabelle all to
themselves at present but it is intended that the house
will be eventually remodeled a the woman's dormitory for ¢h
the whole compound. After tea we wandered over the grounds
(it was once the rectory of the district and is beauti-
fully landscaped with palms, etc.). The Frome plant of
the West India Sugar Co. is a "central"; that is, it
mills cane for the small growers over a considerable
area, Its capacity is many times more than Caymanas.
26
Marjorie is the assistant agronomist and, according
to Miss Hermanse, draws four hundred pounds a year
which is a very good wage on the island. Joan went
elsewhere for dinner and Marjorie and I dined alone.
We talked about sugar, the future of civilization,
art and books until 10 PM. I found my way back to
Windsor where I stirred up all of the dogs. Bed,
May 16. Started about 8.30 for Bluefields Bay. First
ran a mile or so up the Beeston Springs road to a
good parking space. Collected in dead stumps and
under rocks, getting good series of several species
of termites. One large stump was heavily infested
House at Bluefields Bay, perhaps that of P. A. Gosse.
with a kalotermitid, perhaps Neotermes castaneus,.
I collected for myself until I had pickled a good
series and then I let the lizards have what was left.
Four or five small lizards came up onto the stump and
kept just out of the way of my cutlass, snatching the
termites almost out of my fingers. Further up on the
hill I found a nice colony of Cryptotermes with queen
and also one of Nasutitermes, also with queen. . Then
down to the main road where I could see a house that
is probably the one in which P. A. Gosse lived about
1850. It is now the Bluefields Hotel. Ate lunch on
the sea wall and collected along the road until 2.30
when it started to rain. Returned to Windsor to put
up catch and write notes. Continued to rain. Had tea
and dinner at Windsor and ran out to Frome about 8 to
a —
%
ev
call. A nice visit with Marjorie and Joan. Joan is
secretary to one of the company officials and fits my
conception of a dizzy blonde. Incidently, Marjorie
nearly married Joan's father last year. |
May 17. Slept until 7.30. Breakfast. I don't think that
I can go on drinking the water. It is boiled over an
open fire of logwood and it absorbs odors (very bad ones)
from the decayed spots on the wood. Lime juice covers it
fairly well so I will try to get limeade instead of plain
boiled water. Spent the morning in the pasture back of
Windsor. Not much to collect; Nasutitermes abundant and
several species of ants. Badly stung by Solenopsis.
Rained in the afternoon and my hand swelled so that I
couldn't use it. Went over to Frome for tea and we had
a fine time taking the medical situation on the island
to pieces. I told her of Corita's death and she told me
that it was not at all unusual, citing similar cases from
among her own friends. No matter how well trained and en-
thusiastic a young medico is when he comes from England,
in a couple of years he has settled back into a rut of
complacency and indifference. "Fatty degeneration of the
brain and sheer laziness" is her explanation of the situa-
tion. Joan and George (one of the bachelor Company officials
left for a dance after dinner and Marjorie and I continued
our discussion of social conditions until 10, when I left.
May 18. Weather was perfect and with a basket of lunch pre-
pared at Frome, we started for the north shore for a swim.
First to Lucea and then on nearly to Green Island. Few
beaches and the good ones thickly populated with blacks
minus bathing suits. Turned back and drove to Montego Bay
and on to Falmouth where we ate lunch. Decided to go to
Eaton Hall for our swim and reached there at 2.15. Spoke
for dinner to be served at 5 and went into the water.
North shore is perfect swimming water, not too hot and not
at all cold. lLuxuriated for a couple of hours, dressed,
dined and started for Frome at about 6.15 and reached there
at 9.50. Stopped for a glass of sherry and discovered that
P. A. Bovell, Jim and a friend had called on Marjorie that
day. Mrs. Bovell knew our plans and she tried to stop P. A.
but without success. Collected a series of Dyscinetus on
the porch under the light. Left at 10 for Windsor.
May 19. Took lunch and started for Negril Point with admoni-
tions to look at and admire Negril Beach. Country very
poor for collecting, flat, dry and given over to logwood.
Took series of Solenopsis (without getting stung) and of
Nasutitermes. The colony of Solenopsis was living in an
abandoned termitarium of Nasutitermes, built near the
ground. Back to Sheffield, giving a lift to a black who
28
was evidently anxious to see the U. S. take over the
island. At Sheffield turned
north on the Green Island road
and then to Lucea. Negril beach
is very beautiful to look at but
I am told that there is no depth
of water until one goes out at
least a quarter mile so the swin-
ming is not good. Lucea to Sav-
la-Mar, stopping along the road
to collect. Bath. Dinner at
Fontabelle, bed at 10.15.
May 20. Went back to Bluefields
Bay. Stopped just beyond the
limits of Savela-Mar to chop into
some logs. Found Zoraptera and
ants. At Bluefields Bay, spent
morning sweeping foliage along
roadsides. Coccinellids, tingids
etc.j% mostly on Lantana. Series
of Pseudomyrma running on trunk
of large Coccoloba uvifera. In
very old and long dead stump was
a colony of Termes sp. Also col-
ony of a Kalotermes. In another
stump (Coccoloba) a colony of
Marjorie L. R. Bovell. Cryptotermes, apparently not C.
brevis. Rain started about 2.30
I went back to Windsor to clean up and put away my catch
and then went to Fontabelle for dinner. Marjorie was in
town and after banging on the door futilely I put my mouth
close to the slats and called "Mabel". There was a scurry
and a giggle and the door opened. "Hello, Doc, I'm Cookie.
Mabel's busy." ‘Then, from the kitchen, "Hi, Doc, have some
beer 7", I declined and asked after the refrigerator. |
Cookie said cheerfully, "It seems she has done gone bust."
I heard George say that a new Westinghouse had been ordered
for Fontabelle so they will have relief eventually. Dinner
and a pleasant though somber evening as I leave for Kings-
ton tomorrow.
May 21. Packed, paid bill of three guineas and left Windsor
without regret. Ran out the Negril road for one last try.
Took some heteroptera that seemed new to me. Stopped at
Fontabelle to leave supply of bottles and ethyl acetate.
Said final Goodbyes and started for Kensworth. Reached
there at 4.45, had tea and supper and talked until 8.30.
Bed, fagged out. ;
A a ak I Oe cl oe
29
May 22. Up at 7 for breakfast. Invited either or both
te go to Mandeville and Maix accepted. I drove slowly
and carefully and I think she had the time of her life,
She bought many small items and when we got back she
told Hermanse of every person we passed on the road and
of every sight we had seen. Both were pathetically
grateful. Had lunch and I left for Mendez Pen about 1.
Went all the way into Cross Keys by mistake but then got
onto my road and reached Mendez at 3. Mrs. Bovell was
getting ready to go to a funeral. We talked about Frome
and Marjorie and about the day P. Ae missed us. She wasn't
at all distressed by the incident. She has a plan for a
picnic and swim next Sunday at Alligator Pond and wants
me to come. Will go if I can get my talk fixed up on Fri-
day and Saturday, Am to call at 28 Seymour Ave. (off Old
Hope Road) tomorrow at 8.30, at which time she will have
more news of the party. Reached 2 Piccadilly Road in time
for a bath and complete change of clothing. Dinner. Black
Jack in the evening on the porch which kept me awake until
after midnight.
May 25. Up at 7. Wrote up notes and packed specimens.
Went to Institute to read for my talk. Bernard pointed
out several references on the mongoose that I was glad
to see. This animal was introduced into the island in
1872 as an enemy of the cane rat. A previous attempt
to introduce the ferret failed because the chigoe flea
killed the young ferrets and prevented multiplication.
By 1882 the cost of rat catching had been reduced by 90
percent and the cane damage by 80 percent. (Rat catch-
ing cost calculated directly, cane damage indirectly by
rum production, as all rum was made from damaged canes).
By 1890, the value of the mongoose had passed its peak.
It is now and has been for years, a serious menace to
the wild life on the island.
May 24. Stedman took my cutlass to a leather worker to have
a sheath made. Will cost five shillings. To Myrtle Bank
for bath and swim. Dixie Doodle for lunch with Mrs. Bo-
vell and Jim. He seems very nice, I'm sure I should like
him. After lunch, Mrs. Bovell turned her car over to
Jim and I took her with me. We stopped at Caymanas to
call on Paul and his wife. Paul is OK, don't think I
would care much for his wife. Then to Mendez Pen, where
we talked until 7, had a light supper and I started back
to Kingston. Saturday night makes difficult driving in
Old Harbour and Spanish Town. Tomorrow's party off.
Reached 2 Piccadilly Road at 9.20. Bed after the 10 of-
clock news.
50
May 25. Sunday. Mrs. Dignum, Faith, Dick and I went to
Roselle for lunch and a swim. Swimming is very stren-
uous there as the beach is shelving, somewhat rocky and
with a very strong undertow. Back to Piccadilly Road
for early bed.
May 26. Dick joined me for a trip around the east end of
the island. Took the road to Annotto Bay, pausing at
- \\
: \\ (pin)
wee be
t Dp
é %
“didi :
ah dl; dh :
“@, We
t})
‘
x
~
it
North shore, just east of Port Antonio.
Castleton Gardens but without leaving car. Collected
near Hope Bay in coconut walk, taking ants, millipeds
and miscellaneous insects. Stopped just beyond Port
Antonio for lunch. Sweeping roadside plants produced
little. Stopped at Blue Hole to collect under weed on
beach. Many crustacea but no insects. Light rain.
Avoided Friendship Valley road because we could see
that it was raining very hard in the John Crow mountains.
Continued along the shore to Hector's River and Port
Morant and then in to Kingston. In the evening visited
Jim Walker and Hazel (Wooler) to see the collectiom of
butterflies. Well arranged and mounted but most of the
specimens lack locality labels. Walker is especially
interested in Lycaenidae and has an excellent collection
of this group. He needs help with identifications.
May 27. Went to Institute to make final arrangments for
talk this evening. Am permitted to wear white instead
of tuxedo. Went to bank for money and to the United
Fruit to find out about my baggage. Nathan's and Hen-
derson's for purchases. Lunch. Hope at 2 but no pass
yet for the Palisadoes. Picked out termites and fruit
ol
flies to take to Washington for identification. Dictated
a letter to Col. Hawkins asking again for pass and took
it to the post
office down
town. Then back
INSTITUTE | to Piccadilly
of Road for bath
JAMAICA and early din-
ner, Bernard
called for me
and we reached
the Institute
ahead of the
crowd, which
proved to be
quite small.
Mrs. Bovell
and Jim were
there as well
as several from
the Institute.
The talk went
reasonably well
though Miss
Fletcher sat in
one of the back
rows of seats
and did not hear
_too well. There
were no ques-
tions from the
program. audience. Home
and to bed.
PUBLIC LECTURES
Summer 1941,
May 2&. Went to Hope and found Dixon talking with Col. Hawkins
by phone. The letter had not been received but Hawkins said
to come immediately and we would be admitted. Reached the
restricted area at 10.30 and went first to call on Hawkins.
He was very pleasant and told us to go anywhere that we
wished, Went into the acacia scrub just beyond the light-
house. Found Heterotermes in a discarded piece of 2x4 and
nests of Crematogaster in dead acacia branches. Moved on
a quarter of a mile and located three colonies of the kalo-
termitid that Dixon had taken previously. Found alates, de-
alates, soldiers and workers. As the three groups were
found in a comparatively small area, they may all belong to
the same colony. Quit at 1 PM and returned Dixon to Hope.
In the afternoon, Dick and I went to Victoria market to
buy jippi-jappa. After dinner went to 28 Seymour Ave. to
find Mrs. Bovell. She was not there when I arrived and I
was mistaken for a person of color. Most beautifully
LECTURES.
bd elee ls de ey ae SOE aD Vee. eee
Tuesday May 27
“BIOLOGICAL CONTROL”
RY
Dr. E. A. CHAPIN:
Of the United States National Museum
“LIVING, THINKING, AND YOU"
A Series of Lectures by
LEWIS DAVIDSON, &sq. M.A.
CON
May 15, May 29,
june 12, June 26.
THREE LECTURES BY
K D. CARNEGIE Esq. M.A.
Thurs. May 22:
“OUR DEBT TO GREECE and ROME”
Thurs. June 6:
“THE MESSAGE of SOCRATES for TODAY”
Thurs. June 20:
“THE MESSAGES of EURIPIDES for TODAY”
ALE LECTURES BEGIN PROMPTLY AT 8.15 p.m.
PLEASE COME
AND
BRING YOUR FRIENDS.
Oe
snubbed. We met later and drove to an icecream parlor
where we could sit and talk. Returned her to Seymour
Ave. at 11.50. Black Jack at Piccadilly Road again,
played until 1 AM and then went to bed,
May 29. Up about 8 AM. Took box of spare bottles to the
Institute and brought the tank with the seaurchins to
Piccadilly Road when I returned at noon, After lunch,
ay SONIA IAT"
aS Ny ys
ova an UN \\ IN N ! \
RAN \\ A SS
Vil
Yy
yf; Y We : Zz
VY he fl 7
UW fi’ 7
Manchioneal Bay from the south.
went to Hope to say my goodbyes to Edwards and Dixon.
Sorted out more termites that had not been seen by HEmer-
son and took a collection of ants on slides that had
been made by Gowdey. Piccadilly Road for lunch and
found a note from Marjorie saying that she would be in
Kingston the night of the 30th. Went to the Wooler'ts to
see them for the last time and fortunately found them
all there. Then to 28 Seymour Ave to see if Jim can go
with me to Spanish Town tomorrow night. In the evening,
Bernard and Lucille came over with his booby and egg bird
pictures. We also went to the Rainbow for Pepsicola.
May 5O. Met Lewis at 8 for last trip. We drove out Windward
Road nearly to Sugarloaf and turned left up a gully to
Cane River Falls. Took good termites in dead stumps,
Kalotermes, Cryptotermes, Termes and Nasutitermes. In
the afternnon went for my last film pack and took all
films to the Censor for his OK. Back to Piccadilly Road
to dress and for tea and to say So long to Dick who sails
tonight on the Lady Rodney. Picked up Jim and drove to
5S
Spanish Town. Met Marjorie and we swapped cars, Jim
taking hers. Went to Watt's for chicken salad and to
talk. Started
for 28 Seymour
at 10 PM.
May 51. I sail
today. Went first
to War Finance to
get permission to
reconvert my money
into U.S. Then to
Victoria market,
Royal Bank of Can-
ada, J.A.A. to
turn over car to
Miss Nixon to be
returned to Nir.
Duquesnay. Met
Marjorie and drove
her car from then
on. Bernard took
my baggage to the
pier becaguse my
trunk would not go
in the Ford. Myr-
tle Bank for lunch
and then to the
United Fruit co.
Boat will sail late
Aki or Akee, so we went back to
Myrtle Bank until
2e Then to pier where we found Bernard and Lucille wait-
ing. They have been very good to me. Boat will sail at
4 so back to the Myrtle Bank. Went aboard at 3.45 and
we actually started at 4.15 PM.
June 2. Off Hatteras. We are now in the midst of the herd
of bottlenosed dolphins headed north on their annual
migration. As far as one can see, in every direction,
there are thousands of dolphins moving steadily north-
ward. On either side of the bow, our boat is convoyed
by === groups of from three to ten animals. From time
to time, these groups would leave to boat and their
places would be taken by other and fresh groups. We
first sighted them at four in the afternoon and they
were still with us at dark.
ona
Margery Ann Davidson
Born Sept. 30, 195
Photo Mar. 30,
19h7
l.
Ze
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6.
Te
8.
96
10.
il.
12.
eo — ——- TY —— ¥ ‘pin =
Check list of the Ants of Jamaica.
Ponerinae
Ectatomma (Holcoponera) strigatum (Norton).
Kingston, Port Antonio, Balaclava.
Ectatomma (Holcoponera) striatulum Mayr.
Newton, Kingston.
Ectatomma (Gnamptogenys) interruptum Mayr.
Mandeville.
Platythyrea punctata var. pruinosa Mayr.
Kingston, Balaclava, Mandeville, Montego Bay.
Euponera (Trachymesopus) stigma (F.)
Montego Bay, Cinchona, Manchianeal.
Pachycondyla harpex (F.)
Balaclava.
Anochetus mayri subsp. laeviusculus Wheeler.
Troy (type locality).
Leptogenys puncticeps Emery.
Newton.
Odontomachus haematoda (L.)
Kingston, Port Antonio, Troy, Balaclava.
seme haematoda var. hirsutiusculus F.Smith.
Balacleva, Mandeville, Kingston, Moneague.
~ ae haematoda subsp. insularis Guérin.
Liguanea Plain.
om om om | haematoda insularis var. ruginodis Wheeler.
Montego Bay, Newton.
Ponera foeda Forel.
Troye
Ponera. opaciceps Mayr.
Troy, Newton, Maq°Pen.
Ponera trigona var. opacior Forel.
Newton.
Myrmicinae
15. Pseudomyrma flavidula var. delicatula Forel,
Kingston, Troy, Mandeville, Balaclava.
-oo= flavidula var. capperi Forel.
Kingston, Lapland (near Catadupa).
14. Pseudomyrma elongata Mayr.
Port Antonio, Troy, Balaclava, Kingston.
15. Pseudomyrma gracilis (F.)
Balaclava.
16. Pseudomyrma brunnea F,.Smith.
Lapland (near Catadupa),.
17. Pseudomyrma eduardi Forel.
Newton.
18. Monomorium destructor (Jerdon).
Kingston. |
19. Monomorium pharaonis (L.)
TROy.
20. Monomorium floricola (Jerdon),.
Port Henderson, Hope Bay, Kingston, Bowden.
21. Monomorium carbonarium subsp. ebeninum Forel.
St. Margaret's Bay, Port Antonio, Kingston,
Mandeville, Balaclava, Montego Bay,
22e Cardiocondyla emeryi Forel.
Kingston, Balaclava, Troy, Liguanea Plain.
25. Tetramorium guineense (F.)
Montego Bay, Port Antonio, Troy, Balaclava.
24. Tetramorium (Tetrogmus) simillimum Roger.
Troy, Balaclava.
2'ta. See Additions.
25. Wasmennia auropunctata Roger.
Port Antonio, Balaclava.
26. Solenopsis geminata (F.)
Kingston, Port Antonio, Troy, Balaclava, Newton,
Liguanea Plain, MePen, Negri\ Point.
27. Solenopsis azteca Forel.
Mandeville.
mere azteca var. pallida Wheeler.
Port Antonio, Mandeville, Balaclava.
28. Solenopsis hemmari Mayr. (ident. dub. )
Mandeville.
29. Pheidole fallax Mayr.
Kingston, Balaclava, Newton.
= os fallax var. ovalis Forel.
Kingston.
30. Pheidole megacephale (F.)
Kingston, Mandeville, Cinchona.
$1. Pheidole punctatissima subsp. jamaicensis Wheeler.
2.5 mi. west Port Antonio (type locality), Troy.
@--- punctatissima jamaicensis var. barbouri Wheeler.
Cinchona.
52 Pheidole radoszkowskii var. opacissima Forel.
Kingston, Newton.
$3. Pheidole subarmata Mayr.
Port Antonio, Balaclava.
534. Pheidole caribbaea Wheeler.
Mendeville, Balaclava, Troy, Newton.
W-- caribbaea subsp. sloanei Wheeler.
Newton.
55. Pheidole flavens Roger.
Kingstone
--- flavens var. thomensis Emery (ident. dub.)
Mandeville.
os @. Dee Additions
56. Pheidole floridana subsp. stomachosa Wheeler.
Newton.
37. Pheidole (Ceratopheidole) hecate Wheeler.
Troy (type locality).
om we oon an hecate subsp. malevola Wheeler.
Yallahs Valley (near Blue Mts.), Kingston (type loc-
ality), Newcastle.
ome oe hecate subsp. bruesi Wheeler.
Newton.
o8.
OD6
40.
4l.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
Crematogaster steinheili Forel.
Kingston, Port Antonio.
Crematogaster brevispinosa Mayr.
Troy, Mandeville, Kingston.
ee brevispinosa var. minutior Forel..
Balaclava, Kingston.
o---e brevispinosa subsp. vicina André.
Moneague, Newton, Kingston, Balaclave, Troy.
Cryptocerus (Cyathocephalus ) varians F.Smith.
Kingston, Half Way Tree.
Rhopalothrix simoni var. wighti Wheeler.
2 mie west Port Antonio (type locality), Troy.
Strumigenys alberti var. nigrescens Wheeler.
Mandeville (type locality).
Atta (Trachymyrmex) jamaicensis André.
Kingston.
Cyphomyrmex foxi André.
Kingston, Newton.
: Spinola
Cyphomyrmex rimosus menutus—Hess,
Port Antonio, Balaclava, Troy, Mandeville,
Liguanea Plain, Gordewtown,
Dolichoderinae
Tapinoma melanocephalum (F.)
Kingston, Port Antonio, Montego Bay.
Forelius maccooki (Forel)
Kingston.
Dorymyrmex pyramicus Roger.
Montego Bay.
et oe pyramicus var. niger Pergande.
Balaclava, Kingston.
Iridomyrmex iniguus Mary.
Troy, Mandeville, Kingston, Cinchona.
ae iniquus var. nigellus Forel.
Kingston.
oni a . EE —Vn_— ———<— = ——
Camponotinae
00. Brachymyrmex minutus Forel.
Mouth of Rio Grande.
4 51. Brachymyrmex heeri Forel.
Kingston, Mandeville.
om oo ome wt heeri var. obscurior Forel.
Mouth of Rio Grande, Troy, Balaclava, Kingston,
Mandeville, Cinchina,.
Paralrechina
52. Prenolepis (Nylanderia) fulva Mayr.
Port Antonio, Troy, Mandeville, Kingston.
Paralrech na . ,
53. (Nylanderia) longicornis (F.)
Port Antonio, Kingston, Newton.
Parslrechina _
54. Prenotepts (Nylanderia) vividula Nyl.
Cinchona.
55- Camponotus capperi Forel.
Jamaica.
wee= capperi var. formosulus Wheeler,
Troy (type locality), Mandeville, Balaclava.
---—- capperi subsp. corticalis Forel.
Hope Gardens.
kk capperi subsp. subdepilis Wheeler.
Port Antonio (type locality), Troy, Balaclava.
woe= capperi subsp. unctulus Wheeler.
Newton.
56. Camponotus fugax Forel.
Hope Gardens.
S60. Swe Additions.
57. Camponotus conspicuus F.Smith.
Kingston, Port Henderson, Liguanea Plain, Montego Bay.
58. Camponotus maculatus subsp. picipes (Oliv.) _
Mandeville. |
596 w--=- maculatus subsp. jamaicensis Wheeler.
Newton (type locality), Liguanea Plain, Mendeville.
60. Camponotus hannani Forel.
Kingston, Port Antonio, Montego Bay, Troy, etc.
---= hannani subsp. willardi Forel,
Kingston, Moneague.
&
'
aaa ah
eerie) ’
j , " Aly.
: ats fil ‘ §
Me ‘
Pheidole flavens var. vincentensis Forel.
35a. Pheidole sp. (flavens group)
Portland Ridge.
56a. Camponotus (Pseudocolobopsis) Spe
) Bluefields Bay.
C)
PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 43, NO. 8, NOV., 1941 183.
Femoral and tibial pile dark. Wings: rather heavily tinged throughout with
brown, the stigmal cell quite dark brown, the allulae linear.
Female. Similar to the male; the front has a continuous, diffuse, slender
brownish stripe, the dark pubescence is less in evidence upon the scutellum, and
the abdominal pattern is very similar.
Holotype: one male, Sao Paulo, Osasco, April 6-8, 1939,
J. Lane, collector. Allotype: one female, same data.
A REMARKABLE NEW SPECIES OF THE GENUS PSEUDACTEON
(DIPTERA : PHORIDAE).
By Cuar.es T. GREENE,
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, U. S. Department of Agriculture.
In three genera of the dipterous family Phoridae, poce-
phalus Coquillett, Melaloncha Brues, and Pseudacteon Coquillett,
all of which are known to occur only in the Western Hemisphere,
the female has a large, exserted, horny ovipositor. In the new
species described below the ovipositor is exceptionally large,
being relatively much broader and deeper than in any of the
described species of the three genera.
Pseudacteon grandis, new species.
Female.—Length 1.75 mm. Dark brown. Front about as broad as long, gray
dusted, with a shining black, central, vertical stripe which bifurcates and
extends narrowly around the ocellar triangle; 4 transverse rows of frontal
bristles; first, third, and fourth rows with 4 each; second row with 2, 1 bristle on
each outer side; on each side of the front between the first and third rows of
frontals 2 vertical rows of very minute hairs, 3 in each row; postantennal pair
converging, proclinate. Third antennal segment oval, dark brown, with a nar-
row ochraceous area along the base and with pale microscopic pubescence; arista
one and one-half times as long as third antennal segment, microscopically pubes-
cent. Palpi pale yellow, each with 4 black spines apically; proboscis pale
luteous.
Thorax much broader anteriorly, faintly dusted; scutellum with 4 bristles,
anterior pair much the smaller; halteres yellowish white; legs pale yellow with
brown infuscation on the apical third of hind femur. Wing with third vein
simple, ending before middle; second costal area twice as long as third; costal
fringe short, only slightly longer than thickness of costal vein.
Abdomen dull brown with last 2 segments edged posteriorly with white and
with several bristly hairs on each side. Ovipositor (fig. 1) very broad, shining
black, horseshoe shaped, bilobed, with a central process which has 4 bristles
apically; across basal portion of arch a transparent colorless membrane, and
along the edge a row of 10 small hairs; above this row 2 vertical rows of 4 fine
hairs each.
Described from two females.
184 PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 43, NO. 8, NOV., 1941
The type is from Negril Point, Jamaica, Station 583, May 19,
1941, Dr. E. A. Chapin collector. Taken in association with
the ant Solenopsis geminata (F.), found in a deserted nest of a
species of Nasutitermes.
The paratype is from State College, Miss., November 22,
1934, Dr. M. R. Smith collector. It was observed attacking the
fire ant, Solenopsis xylont McCook.
Typeand paratype, United States National Museum No. 53862.
This species runs to Pseudacteon spatulatum (Mall.) but differs
in the shape and much larger size of the ovipositor.
Note.—The ants were identified by Dr. M. R. Smith, Bureau
of Entomology and Plant Quarantine.
Fig. 1. Pseudacteon grandis, postero-dorsal view of ovipositor.
A NEW TAENIOTHRIPS FROM PANAMA (THYSANOPTERA)’
By J. C. Crawrorp,
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine.
Species in the genus Taentothrips which have the fore tarsus
apically produced into a clawlike projection are so few in
number that a new one, differing widely from those already
known, is of interest. It is because of this deviation that the
specific name has been selected.
Taeniothrips aberrans, new species.
Holotype female (macropterous).—Length (distended) 1.48 mm. Deep brown,
thorax with slight orange tinge and much red pigment, especially in prothorax; _
femora concolorous with body, knees somewhat lighter brown, tibiae paler than
Jamaican Ants Collected by Dr. E. A. Chapin
OU » » 584, 615, 546, 512, 529
1 «= Ponere ang Mcp Mayr
594 ( an interesting ergataner with the workers)
2= Odontomachus haematode insularis ver. ruginodis Wheeler
541 and 514 ( not typical}, 605
3 = Odontomachus haematoda insularis Guerin var,
546
4+ Anochetus mayri subsp. leviusculus Wheeler
516, 527
* ( see 8} * ( see 14)
5 - Pseudomyrme elongata Mayr
6 «= Pseudomyrma brunnea F. Sm.
512, 529,
7 + Pseudomyrma flavidula var, delicatula Forel
512
Platythyrea punctata var. pruinose Mayr
512
*
OO
é
A4& 9 =— Tetramorium lucayanum Wheeler
501 ( new to Jamaican lists } _
10 + Pheidole subarmata Mayr
501
ll
Pheidole fallax var, ovalis Forel
501, 520
12 - Pheidole caribbea subsp. sloanei Wheeler
525
25 18 = Pheidole flavens var. vincentensis Forel
580
xu Euponera ( Trachymesopus) seh ( Fo).
(548, 584, 585
15 « Monomorium floricola ( Jerd.)
589
16 ~- Monomorium carbonarium subsp. ebeninum Forel
521, 581, 569, 587
17 = Cyphomyrmex rimosus Spinola
514, 541 ( note - minutus of Mayr is supposed to be a synonym)
+ ‘
18 «+ Cryptocerus ( Cyathocephalus) varians F, Swe
605
19 - Wasmannia auropunctata ( Roger)
550, 595, 584, 515, 546, 512, 529
20 ~ Solenopsis geminata ( Y.)
578, 587, 516, 576, 5384, 5i2, 597, 594, 592, 529, 583, 502
3§ a “21 - Pheidole sp. ( flavens group) | Een
538 ( possibly new )
22 « Crematogaster brevispinosa subsp. vicina Andre
502,
25 «+ Crematogaster steinheili Forel
600, 521, 501
24 » Tapinoma melanocephalum ( F.)
585, 607
25 =< Iridomyrmex iniquus Mayr
560, 561 |
26 » Iridomyrmex iniquus var, nigella Emery
553 |
27 = Dorymyrmex pyramicus ( Roger)
587, 528, 592, 501
28 - Paratrechina longicornis ( Latr.)
588, 579, 504, 591, 587, 501
'
Paratrechina ( Nylanderia) sp.
512
29
30 + Camponotus conspicuus Forel
516, 527
31 = Camponotus hannani subsp. willardi Forel
538, 607
22 «# Camponotus capperi subsp. subdepilis Wheeler
569, 513, 512, 516, 538
33
Camponotus ( one -paLomately } SDPe eat
586 © » T3a.
34 » Brachymyrmex heeri var. obscurior Forel
512, 585