'Stewart — Botanical Conditions pn the Galapagos Islands. 315 



north side, the northeast side, the northwest side at a point a 

 little south of Conway Bay, and on the southeast side. 



Academy Bay. 



Academy Bay is a small body of water, partly surrounded by 

 cliffs, on the south side of the island. It is marked by a small 

 islet which lies on the east side of the entrance. Small vessels 

 can find good anchorage in this bay but care should be taken in 

 anchoring in the western part of it as there are hidden rocks 

 present there. This part of the bay is the best protected from 

 the southeast swell, so we anchored there on our first visit to 

 this place, and were unfortunate enough to get aground on two 

 occasions. The best landing place for boats is at the north end 

 of the bay where there is a small sand beach, and a low flat area 

 covered with bushes and grass, back of which there is an old 

 trail leading into the interior. Two springs of brackish water 

 occur here, each of which are marked by a bunch of small trees 

 of Hibiscus tiliaceus. The country is veiy rough for a mile 

 or more back from the beach and is covered with low ridges of 

 lava, many of which run in a direction nearly parallel with the 

 coast line. There are also many crevices in this lava, some of 

 which are evidently quite deep. The lava has disintegrated but 

 little on this part so there is very little soil to be seen on the sur- 

 face, but nevertheless it is heavily covered with vegetation. 



To the north of the rough area just mentioned, there is a line 

 of cliffs, about 75 ft. high, above which the lava is evidently 

 much older, as it has broken down in many places into soil, 

 through which boulders of lava protrude at intervals. The 

 amount of soil increases farther inland, completely covering the 

 lava in most places above an elevation of 500 ft. The soil at this 

 elevation, and above, is composed largely of vegetable mold 

 which has been formed from the decay of the abundant vegeta- 

 tion in this region. 



Small swamps of Ehizophora INIangle occur at several places 

 around the shores of Academy Bay and around a small lagoon 

 which empties into it. There are also clumps of Laguncularia 

 bushes along the shore, and occasional trees of Avicennia offici- 

 nalis around salt water pools in the vicinity of the shore. Back 

 of the beach, at the north end of the bay, there is a small area 

 that is thickly carpeted with Sporobolus virginicus. Thickets 



