296 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY 



most eastern of all those along the northern coast of Venezuela. The 

 other islands to be considered are Testigos, Blanquilla, Orchilla, 

 Los Aves, Los Roques, Cubagua, Tortuga, Aruba, Buen Ayre, and 

 Curafoa, the respective positions of which may be seen by referring 

 to the accompanying map of the Carribean Sea and its surrounding 

 lands (PI. 23). All of these islands are identical in topographical 

 features with the plains and hills of Margarita. 



Of this group Cubagua is eight and one half kilometers (5.25 mi.) 

 from Margarita and twice the distance from Coche, of which it is 

 almost a counterpart in size and physical characteristics. No botani- 

 cal research has been made upon it, though I have passed very near 

 the shore several times and have observed that it has the same barren 

 features that Coche possesses. There is no water on the island and 

 never has been any within historical time, and though in the early 

 sixteenth century it was the site of a thriving city of Spanish pearl- 

 fishers, at present there may be seen only a few fishers' huts. 



The next nearest island is La Tortuga, ninety kilometers (60 mi.) 

 from Margarita and the same distance from the coast of Venezuela. 

 The island is twenty kilometers (12 mi.) from east to west and ten 

 kilometers (6 mi.) from north to south. It is merely a raised coral 

 reef and presents the appearance of a low waste of land with an al- 

 most level surface and a very narrow beach. The vegetation as re- 

 ported by Ernst consists of sixty-nine different species of plants largely 

 common to American tropics of which, however, twenty-three are not 

 to be found on Margarita. 



The islands Los Aves, Testigos, and Blanquilla, so far as is known, 

 have never been visited by a botanist. Los Aves consists of a number 

 of small rocky and barren islets midway between Buen Ayi'e and 

 Los Roques. They have been noted solely as a source of guano. The 

 vegetation would naturally be very scanty. Testigos is a small group 

 eighty kilometers (50 mi.) north of Margarita; and Blanquilla which 

 is somewhat larger, being twenty-five kilometers in circumference, 

 is seventy kilometers north of Margarita. Though there are no 

 recorded visits to these islands, the flora may be assumed to be very 

 scanty and to consist for the most part of cosmopolitan seashore 

 plants. 



Los Roques is a group of islands one hundred and thirty kilometers 

 (80 mi.) from the coast of Venezuela and consists of a dozen or more 

 rocky islands none over a kilometer in length. The flora is entirely 



