134 Journal of Travel and Natural History 



cultivation of the land. The plant grows to a height of about three feet, 

 the flowers, which are a brilliant scarlet with orange or greenish tips, 

 appear from November to the end of January. I'he roots when first 

 dug up are very heavy, owing to the large amount of moisture they 

 contain ; when dried, however, they become exceedingly light and cork- 

 like, though without the elasticity of cork, so that it is useless for stop- 

 pers for bottles; nevertheless, owing to its extreme lightness, and being a 

 non-conductor of heat, it is much used for hats and such like purposes. And it 

 has been applied for the lining of entomological boxes ; but it is not suitable for 

 this purpose, as, owing to its non-elasticity, it does not hold the pins sufficiently 

 firm. Slices of the dried root burn readily like tinder, and in many districts in 

 South Africa it is said that little or nothing else can be had wherewith to light 

 a fire. One root in the Kew Museum measures about three feet long, and 

 about five inches in diameter, tapering at both ends and covered with a dark- 

 brown epidermis. This, however, is very small compared to some which are said 

 to grow eight feet long and eighteen inches in diameter. — y. R. yackson, Keio. 



Geographical Relations of the Reptilia and Batrachia 

 of Sonora. — An instructive paper by Dr Cope on the Reptilia and Batrachia 

 of the Sonoran Province of the Nearctic region, is published in the Proceedings of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (October 1866, p. 300), in 

 which will be found a good deal of information as to the geographical dis- 

 tribution of the different forms. It concludes with the following remarks : — 

 Professor Baird has regarded (Proc. Acad., 1859, p. 300) the Sonoran and 

 Lower Califomian Provinces as identical, and has pointed out the slight affinity 

 of the latter to the Pacific district. It appears from the preceding, that, in re- 

 spect to the reptiles, they constitute provinces nearly as distinct from each other 

 as the Sonoran is from the Central, a conclusion agreeing with that allowed 

 by Dr John L. Leconte, from a study of the Coleoptera (vide Proc. Acad., 

 1861, p. 335.) That these and the Pacific Province are more nearly related to 

 each other than to the Eastern Province, is sufficiently apparent on general Her- 

 potological and other grounds, as set forth in Professor Baird's masterly review 

 of the distribution of North American birds. {Silliman'' s yoiirnal of Science 

 attd Art, 1866.) Dr Gunther has indicated the Tropic of Cancer as the ap- 

 proximate division line between the Nearctic and Neotropical regions ; the 

 writer (loc. cit., 1861, p. 306), has regarded this as the parallel of its eastern 

 extremity, and placed the western several degrees further north. More recently, 

 Professor Baird has indicated a less oblique division, raising the eastern 

 extremity to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and terminating it on the west at 

 Guaymas. While he characterizes the line as "arbitrary" for the birds, it is 

 much less so for terrestrial vertebrates. In these the transition of Fauna; is 

 striking and quite abrupt. 



Notes from Honolulu. — A letter from Honolulu, under date Oct. 

 31st, 1867, says, "About three months since, a steamer belonging to the United 

 States, left that port to survey a small coral island called Middle Brook Island, 

 in 28.30° N. lat., about 163^ W. long., some 500 miles distant from the Hono- 

 lulu group. It was thought that this small island might afford a suitable coal- 

 ing station for the Californian-China steamer line. An officer on board that 

 vessel, at the request of the writer of the letter, collected specimens of the plants 

 growing on that 'small piece of rock' about half-a-milc in diameter, and 



