The Cruise of the “Tomas Barrera”: The Narrative of a Scientific Expedition to Western Cuba and the Colorados Reefs, with Observations on the Geology, Fauna, and Flora of the Region

Abstract

THIS book is the narrative of a “delightful outing and a most successful collecting expedition “to the north-west end of Cuba. The account throughout is essentially domestic, the doings of each day are recorded, and there are the usual more or less informed pages on mosquitoes, snakes, and sharks. It was a scramble of nine “naturalists” for six weeks to secure specimens of as many different animals as possible, rather than to study scientific problems or living beasts. The collectors secured a well-found fishing schooner of 65 ft. length, with a launch, and dodged in and out of the barrier reefs of the Colorados, wherever possible securing specimens by shallow dredging, the use of copper sulphate for doping rock pools, and the attraction of the electric bulb at night. It is a slightly known area, but reefs, lagoons, and mangrove swamps seem to be little different from others in the same region. No fresh light is thrown on their origin. They differ mainly from Indo-Pacific reefs in the shallowness of the lagoons—seldom more than ten fathoms—within the barrier reefs, but, unfortunately, in an otherwise well-got-up book, the chart given is totally inadequate.

The Cruise of the “Tomas Barrera”: The Narrative of a Scientific Expedition to Western Cuba and the Colorados Reefs, with Observations on the Geology, Fauna, and Flora of the Region.

By John B. Henderson. Pp. ix + 320. (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916.) Price 12s. 6d. net.