JOHNSTON: FLORA OF ]VL\IIGARITA ISLAND. 167 



In 1900, Captain Wirt Robinson and Dr. ]\I. W. Lyon, Jr., collected 

 at La Guaira, Macuto, and San Julian about sixty plants which are 

 now in the U. S. national herbarium (see Johnston, '08). 



In 1901, "uith a party of three others I spent the months of July and 

 August on the island of Margarita. About 300 species of plants 

 were collected. On another trip to the same island in 1903, we 

 increased the known flora of Margarita to 654 species. At the same 

 time a collection was made on the island of Coche and visits were made 

 to Carupano, Cumana, La Guaira, and Caracas to compare their 

 floras. Again in 1907, I was enabled to ^^sit Venezuela although no 

 collecting was done on INIargarita. Visits to Pampatar on Margarita 

 and to Carupano, Cumana, Barcelona, Guanta, La Guaira, Caracas, 

 and Valencia on the mainland, all have been of value to me in com- 

 paring the flora of Margarita with that of adjacent regions. 



It is believed that the above collections comprise all that have been 

 made in Venezuela ^ith the exception of a few by Venezuelans. In 

 some cases the data are incomplete and unsatisfactory but they may 

 nevertheless furnish a basis for further research work along this line. 



Floka. of the Island of Makgarita. 



Introduction. 



The island of Margarita is only a small part of Venezuela, never- 

 theless its flora has proved to be of considerable interest, particularly 

 as revealing several new species and as increasing the known geographi- 

 cal distribution of other species. The island was visited in 1873 by 

 Dr. Adolphus Ernst who published a report of the plants discovered. 

 Captain "Wirt Robinson \isited the island in 1898 making a collection 

 of the birds and mammals. In 1901 a party of four students of Har- 

 vard university consisting of Austin H. Clark, O. O. INIiller, Walter P. 

 Jenkins, and myself spent the months of July and August collecting 

 specimens of animal and plant life. In 1903, through the kindness 

 of one of the friends of the Gray herbarium of Harvard university, 

 I was enabled to \'isit Margarita again. This time I was accompanied 

 by Dr. Albert F. Blakeslee, who devoted himself to the collection of 

 algae and fungi, and by Clifford Wilson, who assisted us in our work. 

 These ^^sits to Margarita, which are all that have been reported 

 of scientific workers, taken together furnish fairly complete data as to 

 the character of the flora and its vegetative conditions. 



