120 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



to five hundred hundred feet high, with its steep slopes 

 crested by a line of perpendicular cliffs. It was at the base 

 of these cliffs that the interesting Lopezia clavata and Poly- 

 gala apopetala were found. From Comondu to San Jorge, 

 the head of the " estero," thence by boat to Magdalena — 

 and the first excursion was finished. 



At Magdalena Bay I found Walter E. Bryant and Charles- 

 D. Haines, who had been sent upon a collecting expedition 

 by the California Academy of Sciences, and together we 

 went to Santa Margarita Island. I had expected to find on 

 that large island a more southern flora, and was somewhat 

 disappointed to see repeated in its vegetation the plants of 

 Purisima and Comondu, together with those of Magdalena 

 Island, but some few not seen before were collected, and 

 most of them proved to be undescribed. Veatchia grows- 

 larger upon Santa Margarita than at any other locality; 

 some fine old trees were two feet in diameter and twenty 

 feet high. 3Iaytenus, called '* mangle dulce," also grows to 

 a very large size, and in some portions of the island nearly 

 all the vegetation was found to be unusually luxuriant. Re- 

 turning to Magdalena, we went up the " estero " to San 

 Jorge and then agaiu to Comondu. 



Two weeks diligent collecting along the cliffs and upon 

 the mesas, afforded a very complete representation of the 

 flora of Comondu and vicinity, including many plants that 

 were not in bloom at the time of the previous visit. Then, 

 with Mr. Bryant, Mr. Haines, a pack train and guides, the 

 journey northward through the center of the peninsula waa 

 begun. The start was made with some misgivings as to the 

 result, for we knew there was a ride of nearly five hundred 

 miles before us through a dry, desolate, rocky and almost 

 uninhabited region. 



From Comondu, for the first week, no great change was 

 observed in the flora, few plants were collected and these 

 were mostly species of Atriplex. At a small place called 

 San Jose de Gracia, Rhus laurina was first seen, Viscainoa 



