PHYSIOLOGY OF THE RED MANGROVE. 603 



some distance after dropping from the trees. He also describes the 

 ecology of a mangrove swamp in the Bahamas very well. " In shal- 

 low salt Water, these impenetrable Woods of Mangroves are fre- 

 quented by great Numbers of Alligators, which being too big to 

 enter the closest Recesses of these Thickets, the smaller Ones find 

 a secure Retreat from the Jaws of their voracious Parents. These 

 watery Woods are also plentifully stored with ravenous Fish, Tur- 

 tles and other Animals which prey continually one upon the other, 

 and the Alligator on them all ; so that in no Place have I ever seen 

 such remarkable Scenes of Devastation as amongst these Mangroves 

 in Andros, one of the Bahama Islands, where the Carcasses of half 

 devoured Animals are usually floating in the Water. They grow in 

 most parts of the Earth under the Torrid Zone and are found but 

 little north or south of the Tropicks." 



In all the preceding history of the mangrove, the literature 

 naturally falls into two divisions. That from Nearchus (325 B.C.) 

 and Theophrastus (305 B.C.) to Arrian (136 A.D.) embraces the 

 references as found in classical literature, while that from the time 

 Abu '1 Abbas en-Nebaty (1230) to Catesby's (1731) with a few ex- 

 ceptions, who were largely compilers of botanical works, the litera- 

 ture consists of the narratives of travelers, voyagers and explorers. 

 With the stimulus given to systematic studies by the writings of 

 Linnaeus and the then recent discovery of new plants in all parts 

 of the world the works of the latter half of the eighteenth century 

 are mostly systematic. 



Taxonomic Relations of Rhisophora mangle. 



Linnaeus-® in his earlier writings (" Systema Nat.," 1736) had 

 a rather vague conception of the limits of the genera Rhicophora. 

 He treated it in the " Systema " and in his " Philosophia Botanica," 

 1751,-'^ under a head " LXII. Candelares" with Nyssa and Mimn- 

 sops. These accordingly were later changed and No. 62 was can- 

 celled in the "Philosophia." In the "Species Plantarum," 1753,^*^ 

 he gathers all the confused and tangled synonyms and descriptions 



2s Linnaeus, C, " Systema Nat.," p. 442, 1735. 



29 Linnaeus, C., "Philosophia Bot. 62 Candelaria," 1751. 



30 Linnaeus, C, "Species Plant," Vol. L, p. 634, 1753. 



