246 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



account (2), 236, we learn that the island is green as though covered 

 with vegetation, that many ravines run down from the upper part, and 

 that it is the breeding place for numerous sea-birds. Messrs. Snodgrass 

 and Heller sailed within a few hundred yards of Brattle and report it a 

 low, steep, and sterile rim of a tufa crater, the only vegetation being a 

 scattering growth of Croton bushes. 



Grossman Islands are similar small rocky islets, on which no plants 

 have been observed. 



Charles or Floriana Island. 



Charles is one of the five larger and higher islands, and with the pos- 

 sible exception of Chatham has been the most fully explored botanical ly. 

 It has yielded the largest number of plants, namely, 267. Of these 33 

 are peculiar to it, and 105 to the archipelago. Charles was at one time 

 inhabited by a penal colony from Ecuador, and in its flora shows a greater 

 number of obviously introduced plants than are found on any of the other 

 islands except Chatham. Of the 267 plants found on Charles 126 occur 

 also on Chatham and 100 on Albemarle. According to Baur (2), 239, 

 the appearance of Charles is quite different from that of Chatham, the 

 hills beinjj more rounded. lie also states that there are no lai'ire forest 

 trees on Charles. The desolate coast of Charles at Black Beach is fie- 

 ured by Agassiz (1), t. 19, 20, and the copious vegetation on the way 

 to the hacienda, t. 21. 



Chatham Island. 



Chatham being the most easterly of the islands, is of course the nearest 

 to the mainland. It is relatively large and fertile, and the only one of the 

 group which is now inhabited. Portions of it are covered by forests of 

 large trees, and in other parts are high arable plains, well shown by 

 Agassiz (1), t. 17. When Baur visited the island in 1891, he found 

 two hundred and ten acres under cultivation. The plantations are owned 

 by Mr. Cobos, to whose courtesy and hospitality the visiting naturalists 

 have been repeatedly indebted. Chatham has been relatively well ex- 

 plored, 231 plants having been found upon it. Of these, 24 are peculiar 

 to it, and 82 exclusively Galapageian. Notwithstanding the habital 

 differences spoken of by Baur (2), 230, the flora of Chatham possesses 

 the largest common element with that of Charles. A giant cactus ( Cereus 

 sclerocarpiis ?) with red egg-shaped fruit is mentioned by Baur. This is 

 doubtless the one which appears in Agassiz's Plate 16. 



