378 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



ogist, visited Santa Catalina, the nearest and most readily 

 accessible of these islands. This gentleman, although not 

 n botanist, had the botanical good sense to prepare and take 

 away a few plant specimens; and his small collection was 

 found to contain not only species not known on the main- 

 land, but also some new generic types. One of these, 

 Crossosoma, is so peculiar as almost to represent a distinct 

 natural order, and is more related to the Dllleniacece of Asia 

 and Australia than to any plants of the American continent, 

 •except its single congener, more recently discovered, which 

 inhabits the desert region of southeastern California. 



Mr. Gambel's trip to Santa Catalina appears to have been 

 the first, and for thirty years and more it remained the only 

 visit which had been made to any of these islands, by any 

 naturalist who had an eye to botany. But in the month of 

 September, 1884, Mr. William S. Lyon of Los Angeles 

 spent three days botanizing on this island, and in June and 

 July of the year following continued his valuable researches 

 during three weeks. Moreover, in April, 1885, he spent 

 four days on San Clemente, in company with another botan- 

 ist, Rev. J, C. Nevin. The highly interesting results of 

 these several expeditions were published in the Botanical 

 Oazette for 1886. Mr. Lyon's lists number, for Santa Cat- 

 alina, one hundred and fifty-one species; for San Clemente, 

 ■eighty-one. Out of these about fifteen were new to science, 

 and at least ten others were unknown except from other 

 islands, including the distant and isolated Guadalupe, mak- 

 ing, out of a total of two hundred and thirty-two species, at 

 least twenty-five which are not found on the mainland. One 

 of Mr. Lyon's novelties, appropriately named Lyonothammcs, 

 was of a new generic type; so that the islands of this group 

 could now boast of at least two peculiar genera of flowering 

 plants. 



The fruits of these explorations of Santa Catalina and San 

 Clemente were thus of a nature to intensify our desire of 

 becoming acquainted with the vegetation of Santa Cruz, and 



