328 M'isroiiisin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



in most places in this vicinity, but short sand beaches occur occa- 

 sionally. Th country is covered with beds of rough basaltic 

 lava and cinders all of which is very old and has become stained 

 with a dark brown color. This lava has not become broken down 

 to any extent, so consequently there is but little soil in this re- 

 gion. The ascent is very gradual here so that it is necv'-ssary to 

 go about four miles inland in order to reach the plateau region, 

 which covers the central part of the island. The eastern part of 

 this plateau has a general elevation of about 700 ft., but it slopes 

 up gradually, towards the west, to the base of the mountain. 

 There is more soil on the plateau than lower down, but it is 

 mostly in low places so that the surface of the ground is usually 

 strewn with lava fragments. Several old craters are located on 

 the plateau at an elevation of 700 ft., all of which are low in al- 

 titude. 



The sand beaches support many of the smaller plants which 

 are usually found in such situations on these islands. Among 

 these are: Batis maritima, Cryptocarpus pyriformis, Discaria 

 paucifiora, and Sporobolus virginicus. Rhizophora ^langle is 

 the only one of the mangroves that grows on the open coast at 

 this place. It also grows to some extent around the shores of the 

 salt water lagoon, mingled in places with Avicennia officinalis. 

 In the vicinity of the shore, the country is covered in places with 

 thickets of Discaria, and Maytenus bushes, but there are no 

 trees except those of Opuutia myriacantha. There are a few 

 specimens of Bursera, but they are mere bushes, and do not gix)w 

 to the size of a tree for some distance inland. The crowns of the 

 Bursera trees are usually much flattened, due to the action of 

 the wind. There are quite a number of species of bushes farther 

 inland, all of which grow from the crevices of the lava. Among 

 these are : Alternanthera rigida, Cordia lutea, Croton Scouleri 

 var. albescens, Euphorbia articulata, and Scalesia atractyloides. 

 With the exception of the halophytes along the shore, the Scale- 

 sia bushes were about the only plants that presented a green ap- 

 pearance at the time of our visit. There Avere many other plants 

 in leaf at this time, but the leaves were either small, or covered 

 with a dense coating of hairs so that the green color was ob- 

 scured. There are small stretches of lava near the shore on 

 which there is practically no vegetation. 



The vegetation becomes more abundant between 100 and 200 ' 

 ft. elevation where there are extensive thickets of Lipochaeta 



