MB. BUNBURT OK THE BOTAKT Or TFTTERirPE. 29 



preserved unliurt, through a belief (doubtless well-founded) that 

 the destruction of the shade would lead to the failure or diminu- 

 tion of the fine spring which supplies the town and valley with 

 water. The elevation of Agua Mansa is rather more than 4000 

 feet * above the sea-level. 



The large trees in the wood are principally Vifiaticos, Persea 

 Indica, and some of them are indeed of great size and noble aspect. 

 Beneath them is a luxuriant and beautiful undergrowth of Erica 

 arhorea^ Myrica Faya, Vihurnwn rugoswn^ Ilex Canariensis, Webb 

 and Berth, (the jicevino of the Canarians), Hypericum grandi- 

 folium^ and one or two species of Cistus, Few herbaceous plants 

 were in flower at the season of my visit, except a beautiful Forget- 

 me-not, considered by AVebb and Berthelot as identical with our 

 Myosotis sylvaiica. Terns are abundant and fine, particularly 

 Pteris arguta^ Asjyleninm aciitum^ and Cystopteris fragilis. Gym- 

 nogramme leptophylla ascends to this elevation. The ground, the 

 rocks, and the trunks of trees, are richly carpeted with Mosses : 

 of these the most remarkable is tlie GJyphocarptvs Wehhii t, Mont., 

 which is in great abundance, covering the moist rocks with broad 

 cushion-like patches of a rich yellow hue ; this seems to have been 

 hitherto found nowhere else. "With this exception, the hypnoid 

 mosses predominate greatly ; but the variety of species did not 

 appear to be in proportion to the extent of siu'fa^'e they covered. 

 Pterogonium gracile and Ilypnum cupressiforme are especially 

 abundant, covering the trunks of the trees ; the latter of them, aa 

 with us, sporting into many varieties. Other Mosses which I 

 found here were : 



Hypnum Blecelriim (H. hlandum, Lyell) : abundant, but I 

 could find no fruit; the leaves, however, agree with those of 

 authentic specimens from the late Mr. Lyell. 



-ff. ahpecnrum ? (var. with compressed branches and bifarious 

 leaves) : on very wet rocks ; barren. 



Lesk 



:ea sericea. 



^eckera pennata ? : on trees, sparingly and barren. 

 ^eckera {Antitrichia, Brid.) curtipendula : on rocks, not in 

 fructification. 



Leucodon sciiiroides, 



Leptodon SmitJdi, Brid. {Pterogoniuvi, Sm.) : on trees. 



I 



* 3820 French feet, according to Von Buch. 



t Montagne, in Webb and Berthelot, Hist. Nat. Canar., Gryptog. p. 28. pi. 2. 

 fig. 2. 



