Stewart — Botanical Conditions on the Galapagos Islands. 327 



so overgrown with vegetation in this region, it probably would 

 have been impossible for us to have found it unless the trail had 

 led directly to it. 



The botanical regions are fairly well marked here. The dry 

 region seems to extend to about 450 ft. and the transition region 

 to about 700 ft. elevation. The moist region seems to be evenly 

 forested and has none of the open areas covered with bushes and 

 vines, such as was found at Academy Bay on the south side of 

 island. 



James Island. 



James, the fourth largest island in the group, is located nine 

 miles northeast of Cowley Bay, Albemarle Island, and twelve 

 mile nortli by west of Indefatigable Island. The general shape 

 of the island is a parallelogram the length of which is about 

 twenty miles, and extends east and west. With the exception of 

 a few sand beaches, the shores are rocky and are bordered in 

 most places by low cliffs of lava. The eastern part of the island 

 is loAv, and slopes up gradually to a broad central plateau which 

 extends, Avith a gentle slope, to the base of the main crater, lo- 

 cated towards the west end of the island. This crater has an ele- 

 vation of 2,850 ft., and can be more easily reached from James 

 Bay than from any other point. Many other craters occur on 

 the island, but with one or two exceptions, they are all small. 

 There are a number of these in the vicinity of Sullivan Bay, and 

 along the south side. Deposits of basaltic lava, and volcanic 

 cinders, cover the greater part of the island, the most of which is 

 quite old, and has become veiy much oxidized. In many places 

 in the interior, it has become entirely broken down on the sur- 

 faces, into soil, which is mixed with quite a large amount of 

 vegetable mold.There are, however, some veiy recent deposits 

 of lava on the south side, some of which have recently come from 

 a small crater which has been active within the last few years. 

 Deposits of tufa occur on the west side, but they are very local 

 in their distribution. 



Northeast Side. 



This side of the island was visited about six miles northwest 

 of Sullivan Bay. There is a small salt-water lagoon here, appar- 

 ently the only one on the island. The shores are low and rocky 



