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to science by the somewhat irresponsible cutting of timber which 

 is now going on. 



A week was given to collecting in the higher portions of the 

 Blue Mountains, using Cinchona, the garden's sub-tropical station 

 and laboratory as a base, and the party enjoying while there the 

 delightful hospitality and kindly aid of Mrs. William Fawcett, 

 wife of the Director of Public Gardens and Plantations. Expedi- 

 tions w*re made to the summit of Sir John Peak, the second 

 highest mountain of the range, along a trail recently cut out by 

 means of contributions of students who have used the laboratory, 

 which opens up a surprisingly interesting tract of mountain forest 

 at altitudes of 6,000 to 7,000 feet. Here the bryologists of the 

 expedition revelled in the wealth of rare mosses and liverworts 

 which clothed the tree-trunks, the shrubs and the ground, forming- 

 cushions and festoons of entrancing beauty : in spite of a tropical 

 down-pour of rain which finally drove us to shelter in a hut three 

 or four miles from the summit where a fire and hot coffee soon 

 made everybody cheerful, and the return to Cinchona was made 

 without incident and the collections safely housed. John Crow 

 Peak, a much better known mountain of 6,000 feet altitude, was 

 also visited, and extensive collections made there and at lower 

 altitudes. 



The buildings and grounds at Cinchona, leased by the Garden 

 from the Jamaica government in 1903, for use as a sub-tropical 

 station and laboratory have been repeatedly described. I had not 

 visited them before, however, and was naturally much inteiested 

 in examining the establishment, which is all that is necessary for 

 the purposes : the buildings have been kept in repair and the 

 grounds in good order by the Jamaica government. Professor 

 Underwood will present to you a detailed report on the work 

 hitherto accomplished by students at Cinchona, together with 

 considerations relative to the future of the station. A visit of 

 about three days was made to Hollymount, near mount Diablo in 

 the central part of the island, where collections were made, and, 

 under the guidance of Mr. Harris, I was able to study and collect 

 at several points in the vicinity of Kingston, in the part of the 

 island which has the least rainfall, and where cacti abound. 

 Through his collections and my own we have now secured living 

 specimens of all the cacti known to grow in Jamaica, except one 

 small and little known species : this is a Mamillaria accredited to 

 Jamaica by Linnasus, but not found there in many years : it is 

 especially interesting as the type of the genus Mamillaria, mostly 

 globose plants, so rich in species in Mexico and in the arid por- 

 tions of Arizona and New Mexico : I greatly desired to rediscover 

 it, having found the related species Mamillaria nivosa on Culebra 

 Island, Porto Rico, last Spring, and hope that the Jamaica botanists 

 may yet run across it. The largest Jamaica cactus is the plant 

 known as Cereus Swartzii. 



The Jamaican palms were also made a subject of special study, 

 and I was fortunate in being able to see nearly all the kinds known 

 and to collect herbarium specimens ; seeds and young plants of 



