ALBERT

Description: In preparing the volume of the Gobioidea in M. Weber and L. F. de Beaufort: The Fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago, several described species, collected in the Indo-Australian Archipelago or its surroundings, were not clear to me. Of a number of these the description was distinct enough to see what was meant with such a new species, but there were several species which I could not recognize from their description. Bleeker described a large number of new species, but, unfortunately, several of his descriptions are too vague to recognize the species. So many authors had described several species which proved, after comparison with Bleeker\'s type specimens or descriptions made after his types, to be either closely allied, or identical with species already described by Bleeker. In order to see whether the described species of authors were synonyms of already described species, or to reexamine the types in order to enlarge the descriptions, I visited several Museums and other Institutions in the United States of N.\nAmerica, Honolulu, Australia, Philippines, Singapore and British India.\nDuring a stay in Batavia, I had the opportunity to make colour sketches of freshly-caught specimens and to go out and collect specimens myself.\nMy visit to the different countries mentioned was made possible by a grant of the "Pieter Langerhuizen Lambertuszoon fonds", endowed by the "Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen".\nDuring these visits I received great help and friendship of the staff of the Museums and Institutions, for which I am very thankful. Especially I am obliged to the following Directors of Museums and other Institutions and members of their staff:

Description: Dr. P. Wagenaar Hummelinck entrusted me with the study of the snakes, which he collected during his trips to the islands off the north coast of Venezuela, to the Venezuelan mainland, and to eastern Colombia. In the present paper the species collected by Dr. Hummelinck are listed with data on scale counts, coloration and with notes on nomenclature. In a few cases specimens from other collections were used for comparison, and for these the provenance is indicated in the lists of specimens. Dr. Hummelinck made notes on the names given to the different species of snakes by the inhabitants, and by his kind permission these notes are included in the present paper. These local names form an addition to those published by Roca (1932, pp. 387\xe2\x80\x94388).\nUnless otherwise stated the specimens are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden. The numbers cited for the different specimens, Oph. 1\xe2\x80\x9460, are the numbers used by the collector; they are mentioned in parentheses, the first of each list of specimens with the indication Oph., the following without this indication.

Description: The genus Praravinia was created by KORTHALS (in TEMMINCK, Verhand. Nat. Gesch. Ned. Overz. Bezitt., Bot., p. 189, tab. 41, 1839-1842) for a plant which he had collected in the south-eastern part of Borneo. He described it as similar in habit and doubtless nearly related to Urophyllum WALL. His diagnosis of the genus, however, does not substantiate this point of view, for it contains two statements which seem to exclude the possibility of a near affinity: the aestivation of the corolla lobes is described as imbricate, whereas in Urophyllum and its allies it is always valvate, and the number of corolla lobes is said to be half as large as that of the stamens, a condition unknown not only in Urophyllum but in the whole family. As in the description of the species the aestivation is correctly set down as valvate, the first statement need not trouble us: the word \xe2\x80\x9cimbricate\xe2\x80\x9d in the generic diagnosis is obviously a slip of the pen. The other statement, however, is repeated in the description of the species, but it strikes one as anomalous that immediately afterwards the 8\xe2\x80\x9412 stamens are said to alternate with the corolla lobes, as this of course would be impossible when the latter were but half as numerous as the first.\nThe discrepancy between the number of the corolla lobes and of the stamens led MIQUEL in his \xe2\x80\x9cFlora Indiae Batavae II, p. 225 (1857)\xe2\x80\x9d to consider Praravinia as a quite singular genus, rather out of place in the family Rubiaceae: it reminded him, he says, of the Samydeae (Flacourtiaceae). When he wrote this, he knew the genus merely from the description given by KORTHALS, but afterwards he found an opportunity to study the latter\xe2\x80\x99s material. In his \xe2\x80\x9cDe quibusdam Rubiaceis, Apocyneis et Asclepiadeis\xe2\x80\x9d (Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugd.-Bat. IV, p. 136, 1869) he proposes, as a result of this investigation, to exclude the genus from the Rubiaceae, and to raise it to family rank. The new family, for which he introduces the name Metrocladeaceae, should be regarded, however, as nearly related to the Rubiaceae. The description of the genus given by MIQUEL is much more detailed than the original one, but it unfortunately repeats its principal errors: the corolla is described as 4- to 6-merous, and its aestivation as imbricate. The male flower dissected by him is preserved in the Utrecht Herbarium; it is a fairly young bud, opened by a longitudinal slit. The corolla lobes had apparently been separated by a slight pressure, but I at once got the impression that it had been insufficient to effect a complete separation, and that the lobes were still cohering in pairs. I have boiled the flower therefore once more, and by exercising in my turn a slight pressure I succeeded in setting all the lobes free. Since then I have seen mature flowers of this and other species in which the isomery of corolla and androecium was unmistakable. MIQUEL\xe2\x80\x99s speculations on the taxonomic position of the genus were based therefore on a false supposition, and need no further consideration; the analysis carried out below will show that KORTHALS was quite right when he placed Praravinia in the neighbourhood of Urophyllum.

Description: The name Pleiocarpidia was coined by K. SCHUMANN (ENGLER und PRANTL, Nat\xc3\xbcrliche Pflanzenfamilien, Nachtr\xc3\xa4ge I, p. 314, 1897) for a genus described in 1873 by HOOKER f. (BENTHAM et HOOKER, Genera Plantarum II (1), p. 71) as Aulacodiscus: HOOKER\xe2\x80\x99S genus had to be rebaptized, because the name Aulacodiscus had been used already in 1844 by EHRENBERG for a genus belonging to the Diatomeae. A proposal made by O. KUNTZE(POST et KUNTZE, Lexicon, 1904) to change the spelling of the name introduced by SCHUMANN in Pliocarpidia can not be accepted, as there is no rule prescribing the transcription of the Greek diphthong in the manner advocated by the proposer.\nThe plant on which HOOKER\xe2\x80\x99S genus was founded, a small tree not uncommon in the Malay Peninsula, had been described already several years before by WIGHT (Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. VII, p. 144, 1847) under the name Axanthes enneandra. The specific epithet points to the presence of nine stamens in the flower, but this is exceptional: in the flowers investigated by me the ordinary number proved to be seven. The genus Axanthes Bl., to which the species had been referred by WIGHT, was reduced shortly afterwards by BENTHAM and HOOKER f. (Niger Flora,p. 396,1849) and independently by KORTHALS (Ned. Kruidk. Arch. II, 2, p. 194,1851) to Urophyllum Wall. Later HOOKER made an exception for Axanthes enneandra Wight. The flowers of this plant were described by him as 8- to 16-merous, and on account of this character and of the presence of a \xe2\x80\x9cpeltate stigma\xe2\x80\x9d he referred it to a new genus. Afterwards a second species from the same region was described by KING and GAMBLE under the name Aulacodiscus Maingayi, but this proved identical with the first (cf. RIDLEY, Flora of the Malay Peninsula II, p. 64, 1923). A really new species, however, was found in Mindanao: it was described by Merrill as Pleiocarpidia lanaensis.

Description: Much has been said of the geographical relations and the origin of the West Indian fauna, especially as to that of its vertebrates and mollusks. Mostly the islands off the Venezuelan coast, for the greater part within sight of the South American continent, remained out of question, although obvious differences between the fauna of Cura\xc3\xa7ao and that of the adjacent mainland were rather quickly noticed and its affinity towards the fauna of the Greater Antilles even emphasized (Bland, 1861; Baker, 1924).\nWithout going into the West Indian fauna as a whole, or the current theories that try to explain its distribution, an attempt is being made to find out what palaeogeographical indication is given by the fauna of the Leeward Group, by careful examination of the distribution of its mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fishes and mollusks, \xe2\x80\x94 these being the only groups, perhaps with exception of the birds, which are sufficiently well known to serve as a base for zoogeographical considerations. Biocoenoses were not studied, only the distribution of species and subspecies was taken into account. The biotopes usually being very small and scattered by many isolating factors formed by accidental circumstances, the fauna being very poor and the biology of the species practically unknown, it will be clear that we have to be unpretentious in our aim and very careful in our conclusions.

Description: The region which forms the field of these studies lies between Trinidad and the Goajira-peninsula, off the northcoast of South America, comprising of seventeen islands or island-groups with a total area of about 2000 square kilometers. It is a part of the Venezuelan Republic, excepting Cura\xc3\xa7ao, Aruba and Bonaire, which is Netherlands territory. The total number of inhabitants can be estimated at 164000, chiefly confined to Margarita (70000), Cura\xc3\xa7ao (61000), Aruba (24000), Bonaire (5500) and Coche (3000).\nThis region was visited in 1936 and 1937 with the main object of studying the land and freshwaterfauna, excluding birds and the greater part of the insects. For comparison some parts of the adjacent continent were also visited.

Description: Whilst visiting the Leeward Group, little time could be spared to the collecting of mammals; from Odocoileus and Sylvilagus however, a rather representative series could be obtained. Regarding this, I must offer my grateful thanks and appreciation to the people who so ably and kindly assisted in securing the specimens. I am especially obliged to Mr. van der Linde Schotborgh for presenting me with a living Cura\xc3\xa7oan deer and to Mr. de Wit for organizing our three shooting-parties, ending with the aquisition of the type of Odocoileus gymnotis curassavicus.\nSe\xc3\xb1orita Fanny Maneyro made me a present of a two days old fawn, on the occasion of a short visit to her uncles estate on the Peninsula de Araya. Little \xe2\x80\x9cChacopato\xe2\x80\x9d was bottle-fed in my room in Porlamar, with the devoted assistance of Maximiliana, the hotel-owners step-daughter. This apartment he soon shared with an adult deer from Margarita, which however died a few months later. During this time the hotel-owner, Cl\xc3\xa9mente Sib\xc3\xba, who was very fond of animals, overlooked many annoying things, which another would never have let pass. After my departure to Cura\xc3\xa7ao, \xe2\x80\x9cChacopato\xe2\x80\x9d stayed in \xe2\x80\x9cHotel Central\xe2\x80\x9d, where he was later joined by his two prospective wives \xe2\x80\x9cGuanta\xe2\x80\x9d and \xe2\x80\x9cCar\xc3\xbapana\xe2\x80\x9d, until our departure for the Netherlands. After being kindly entertained on board of the \xe2\x80\x9eVan Rensselaer\xe2\x80\x9d, they started family-life in the grounds of my parents country-house near The Hague.

Description: This paper contains the results of the study of the fish-collection, made by P. Wagenaar Hummelinck, on the islands of the Leeward Group and some parts of the adjacent South-American continent, in 1936\xe2\x80\x94\xe2\x80\x9937 and in 1930. The latter have already been studied by Miss M. Sanders (1936) and are only included for completeness\xe2\x80\x99 sake.\nThe material has been presented to the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam.

Description: Dr. P. Wagenaar Hummelinck entrusted me with the study of 20 adult specimens of a new species of Cyathura which he collected in fresh-water springs of the limestone-region in Cura\xc3\xa7ao. These localities are described in the 1st and the 4th paper of this series.

Description: In the year 1930 Mr P. WAGENAAR HUMMELINCK, Utrecht, made a trip to the Netherlands West Indian Islands of Cura\xc3\xa7ao, Bonaire and Aruba with the intention of collecting zoological objects and of gathering data of zoogeographical interest (see lit. 8). In the years 1936\xe2\x80\x9437 he again collected in these islands and, moreover, visited the islands of Margarita and Los Testigos off the coast of Venezuela, the Venezuelan peninsula Paraguan\xc3\xa1 and the Colombian peninsula La Goajira. To get a better impression of ecological circumstances in pools and puddles of which a zoological inventory was made, he also gathered Algae and floating and submerged Phanerogams occurring in the collecting stations. On the collector\xe2\x80\x99s request the present author made a study of the aquatic Phanerogams, which gave rise to some critical notes. As, moreover, several new localities were discovered and a series of ecological particulars were given by the collector, a complete enumeration of the collected specimens may follow. The specimens were preserved in small collecting bottles in alcohol and in formaline and are now inserted both in the Rijksherbarium at Leiden and in the University Herbarium at Utrecht.