68 
The Genus Staphylea 
Mr. Charles F. Doney, Curatorial Assistant, concluded his 
studies of the genus Staphylea, submitted as a Master of Science 
thesis to New York University, in harmony with the agreement of 
April 1st, 1916 between the University and the Botanic Garden. 
Check Last of Trees and Shrubs 
With the cooperation of Mr. Alfred Rehder, of the Arnold 
Arboretum, and Mr. Henry Teuscher, of the New York Botanical 
Garden, this list is now nearing completion. The list bears some- 
what the same relation to Rehder’s Manual that Dalla Torre and 
Harms’s /ndex bears to the Pflanzenfamilien. 
SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 
By Henry K. SVENSON 
Flora of Galapagos and Cocos Islands 
During the past year, some time was spent in re-arrangement 
of the manuscript of the plants of the Astor Expedition to the 
Galapagos and Cocos Islands (1930). This manuscript, which is 
a catalogue of the plants, exclusive of the ferns, will be published 
in the February, 1935, issue of the American Journal of Botany. 
Publication of this account has been made possible by the 
generosity of Mr. Vincent Astor. The paper consists primarily 
of notes on the habitat and altitudinal distribution of the species 
collected, with scientific description and discussions of new or 
noteworthy plants obtained on this expedition. There are nine 
plates illustrating the types of vegetation, both by line drawing 
and photography. Brief accounts of the general aspects of the 
vegetation on the separate islands which were visited are also 
included. A reproduction of one of the plates, drawn by Miss 
Maud H. Purdy, Brooklyn Botanic Garden artist, is included in 
this report. It illustrates the variation found within a single 
species, Croton Scoulert, a shrub or small tree found only on the 
Galapagos Islands, and evidently the ‘‘commonest bush” seen 
by Darwin (Voyage of the Beagle, ed. 2, p. 399. London, 1913). 
One of the most interesting problems of the Galapagos Islands is 
whether variations are confined to individual islands, thus show- 
ing the origin of definite varieties by geographic isolation, or 
