47 
livened the scene. Several species of Oxalis occurred in sandy 
nooks, the most curious of which was O. gigantea, a thick watery 
stemmed shrub, as high as my head, the upper part of the stalk 
bearing a long spike of yellow flowers arranged irregularly around 
the rachis. Here, too, is found the only 77//andsia known in the 
region (7. Geitsseana, Ph.), which is, strangely enough, a cactus 
epiphyte. Many other interesting species besides these were 
added to my collection in this attractive spot, not the least valu- 
able being six or seven rare lichens. No doubt the remarkable 
fertility of this rugged headland is owing to the clouds which 
bathe its brows with moisture every night and morning in the 
months of August, September and October. 
I have space only to give a brief sketch of an excursion that 
I subsequently made by rail from Caldera to Monte. Amargo, 
twenty-five miles inland. The engineer, a pleasant and well-in- 
formed Englishman, invited me to take a seat with him in the 
engine where, he said, I could survey at my leisure the road and 
the arid pastures on which the mules were feeding. I saw num- 
bers of mules, it is true, and in fact, as they have a special fond- 
ness for collecting in droves upon the railroad track, we came 
near running over some of them, a calamity which I learned was 
by no means infrequent, but what the creatures could find to 
feed upon passed my comprehension, unless it were a very disa- 
greeable plant that seems smeared with varnish over all its parts, _ 
and known from that fact as Alona vernicosa. An animal which 
could browse on such herbage must be quite able to relish tar, 
varnish and such-like substances. This plant occurs all along 
the railway to Monte Amargo, and bears a very pretty bright 
blue flower. Possibly it was the flowers that attracted the mules, 
as it could not have been the taste. : 
Monte Amargo itself is only a railway station situated ina 
soda swamp. In the alkaline pools around it I gathered several 
species of Characeze and Naiadacez, and in the bogs were grow- 
ing a number of saline plants such as Salicornia (S. Peruviana, 
HBK.), 7riglochin and several Cyperacee. Through this swamp 
runs the Copiapo River, or rather the modicum which is left of 
it after being used for irrigation in the valley above. It goes no 
further, being here absorbed by the desert sands. Upon its 
