1891.] ■*■"' [Heilprin. 



country, which is herewith submitted as part of its report to be printed in 

 the Proceedings of t lie Society. 



The Committee submits the following resolutions, which it desires shall 

 be passed by the Society. 



Resolved, That the sum of two hundred and fifty-five dollars be appro- 

 priated out of the income of the Michaux fund towards the expenses of 

 the Thirteenth Course of the "Michaux Forestry Lectures," by Dr. J. T. 

 Rothrock. 



Resolved, That the paper of Prof. Heilprin, entitled "Observations on 

 the Flora of Yucatan," as well as the paper presented by Dr. Rothrock 

 entitled "Some Observations on the Bahamas and Jamaica," in the 

 nature of report to the Michaux Committee of his visit to these Islands 

 in 1891, be printed in full in the Proceedings of the Society as part of 

 the report of the Michaux Committee. 



By order of the Board, 



J. Sergeant Price, Secretary. 



The resolutions, as reported, were adopted by the Society. 



Observations on the Flora of Northern Yucatan. 



By Prof. Angelo Heilprin. 



It is not a little singular that while the Mexican region as a whole has 

 from the beginning of the century to the present day attracted the atten- 

 tion of botanists of all nations, and contributed more largely to the initial 

 understanding of geographical botany than perhaps any other region of 

 the globe, the Province or State of Yucatan should not have drawn to it 

 a single botanist of note. Indeed, it is only in the last few years that any 

 systematic effort has been made towards the determination of its flora, 

 even the relationship of which has not yet been precisely ascertained. 

 Grisebach, in his Vegetation der Erde (1884, Vol. ii, p. 301), dismisses the 

 region with the bare statement that unfavorable climatic and physical 

 conditions prevent luxuriance of vegetable development, and Hemsley, 

 in his report upon the botany of Mexico and Central America, prepared 

 for Godman and Salvin's Biologia Centrali- Americana {Botany, iv, p. 151, 

 1888), merely asserts our ignorance in the following words : "Before con- 

 cluding this part, we may add that little is known of the details of the 

 botany of Yucatan, except that it is very poor and scanty, and largely 

 composed of plants that still bear long droughts without injury. The 

 poverty of the flora is ascribed to the fact that the copious rains rapidly 

 filter away through the porous limestone substratum." Drude, in his 

 Ilandbuch der Pfia nzengeographie (1890), ignores the region entirely. In 

 view of this very limited knowledge of the flora of a country so interesting 



