THE PIvANT WORLD 257 



well lead to some positive evidence upon the general method of origin of 

 species, and if the entire effort of the Desert lyaboratory inquiry resulted 

 in bringing to light positive evidence as to the actual origin of two species 

 of plants its energy would have been well expended by reason of the 

 value of such results to evolutionary science in general. 



The long standing questions as to the causal facts in regard to the 

 various protective structures of xerophytes have advanced but little 

 toward their final solution in the last decade. Are the spines, thorns, 

 prickles and poisons of desert plants really the results of efforts on the 

 part of the plant for self-protection ? So many of the special features of 

 xerophytic vegetation have been interpreted in the spirit of an enduring 

 optimism that leans on the future for a confirmation of its conclusions, 

 which have been received with patient credulity by the botanical world, 

 that it is necessary to ask ourselves the most elemental questions about the 

 best known and most apparent features of the vegetation of the desert. 



Not the least interesting of the results to be obtained from studies of 

 the plants of arid regions, are those which may be expected as to the 

 physiological and mechanical causes accountable for the remarkably low 

 density of distribution, one of the most highly characteristic features of 

 the flora of the desert. 



Extracts from the Note-Book of a Nat- 

 uralist on the Island of Guam.— XII.* 



By W1LI.1AM E. Safford. 



Saturday, October 28. — Busy to-day helping the officers of the Spanish 

 Commission to arrange their affairs. The president of the commission, 

 Don Cristobal de Aguilar, is a man of good education and most agreeable 

 personality. He says that Spain should have disposed of these islands 

 years ago ; that since the independence of Mexico she has derived no 

 benefit from them, and that they have been a continuous source of ex- 

 pense. He recognizes their value to the United States as a naval station 

 and as a landing-place for a trans-Pacific cable. He seemed surprised that 

 we have converted the new building of the college of San Juan de L,etran, 

 erected from the fund bestowed upon this island by Maria Ana of Austria 

 for the education of the natives, into a barracks for the marines, and he 

 made inquiries about the hospital for lepers, which also depended in some 

 way on this fund. It seems to me that the natives of the island should 

 continue to receive the income intended for their education. I asked 

 what had become of the principal, but I could not learn anything definite. 

 It is certain that it has dwindled through dishonesty ; and it is doubtful 

 if any part of it can be recovered. 



* Continued from the October issue. Begun in September, 1902. 



