570904-)6)

VIRGIN ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK
Procedures, Observations, and Recommendations
James W. Bee

1957

From July 6, 1957 to September ), 1957, with the assistance of Williem L.
Cutter, an investigation was conducted in the Virgin Islands with the objec-
tives of 1) ascertsining the kinds of living and extinct land vertebrates on
St. John Island, 2) to discover whether its outliers preserved kinds of land
vertebrates that are not now living on St. John Island.because of the presence
there of the mongoose and finally, 3) to obtain any other information that
would be useful for the National Park Service and to science.

myhdiatio of species formerly living on St. John Island is essentially
negative. The kinds of land vertebrates now inhabiting the island are included
in the report.

Material collected in the Virgin Islands is sufficient to permit the
following studies, each of which could lead to published reports:

1. Taxonomic variation, distribution, and hebits of the amphibia and
reptiles of St. John Island and its outliers.

2. List of fishes collected from Lameshur Bay, St. John Island, Virgin
Islands.

3. Per cent frequency of mollusks in East Lameshur Bay, St. John Island,
and a statistical treatment of the four most common forms (individual varia-
tion, growth curve, size versus weight of shell, age groups, significance of
markings as adaptive survival).

lh. A bat, Stenoderma rufum, from St. John Island, giving complete des-

cription of skin, skull, and habits and a review of the history of the species.