BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 133 



serpent, wandering, as it were, without aim or purpose, like one be- 

 wildered. Standing uji in the boat and looking over the grassj- plain, 

 we report to those sitting: ''We are approaching the island." '-It is 

 on our left." "It is behind us." A quarter of an hour passes, and 

 the report is : ''We are evidently receding from the island and must 

 have taken the wrong course." A brief consultation follows and we 

 decide to go on. Already we have pushed the boat over shallows 

 with difficulty, and the tide is falling rapidl}^ The channel becomes 

 narrower and several times the boat is turned with great difficulty 

 by pushing bow and stern from opposite directions. At one point we 

 are only an oar's length from where we were ten minutes before. 

 Gradually we near the shore and at last onlv one elbow remains to 

 be turned. But it is impossible to get the boat around this until the 

 tide rises, and so leaving it tied to the rushes we make our way ashore 

 as best we can. The steep white bank is surmounted by Bayonets 

 and Cactuses which present a forbidding front, and rising from among 

 these a few dead and weather beaten Cedars stretch forv\'ard their 

 gaunt, white branches as if to forbid our approach. However we 

 make the landing in safety, climb the ascent and after passing these 

 grim sentinels, suddenly enter a verdant shady avenue. Live Oaks, 

 Palmettos and Cedars border the way and cast a refreshins: shade. 

 Their branches are garlanded with vines and fringed with the Span- 

 ish moss. The thread-like Vincetozicum dangles from the dagger- 

 shaped leaves of a towering Yucca, and gathering themselves into a 

 coil unwind again in the top ot a spiny Sageretia or a drooping Sa- 

 pindus. Huge plaited Palmetto leaves rustle as we pass. The Coc- 

 culiis Carolinus and Passifiora suberosa grow in endless profusion, form- 

 ing banks of richest verdure and carpeting with their Ivy-like leaves 

 the pavement of white shells. Of shrubs the most noticeable is the 

 Chiococca racemosa and Psycliotria rufescens. Both are allied to Coffsea 

 and the former bears a considerable resemblance to it. The branches 

 are slender and flexuous, the leaves lanceolate and shining; the small 

 bell-shaped tiowers are borne in drooping axillary racemes and are 

 succeeded by berries of snowy whiteness whence the generic name, 

 which means Snow-berry. The berries of the Coflee shrub are red. 

 The Psycliotria is a little shrub not more than a foot in height with 

 cymes of scarlet berries among clusters of shining green leaves. The 

 Chiococca, Vincetoxicnm, and several other plants found on these 

 islands were, previous to our visit, ascribed to South Florida. Grow- 

 ing in the deepest shades we find a delicate little plant of uni(|ue 

 aspect, somewhat resembling in texture and shape of leaves the 



