34 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. lv. 



registers 99° Fahr. in the shade), yet we have occasional cold 

 nights, which retard vegetation, and so I can only give you a 

 very meagre account of the botany of the place. In the open 

 palm forest amongst the grass, three of the most conspicuous 

 flowers are verbenas, one with bright scarlet flowers, the other 

 two with corollas of a lilac colour. The first and one of the 

 others are common in the pampas as well. Another very charac- 

 teristic pampas phiut which one finds here, although much less 

 abundantly, is a pretty yellow-flowered Oxalis, in size resembling our 

 common little OxaJw at home. Compositae abound, especially tubuli- 

 floral Gnaphalium-Yike forms, which are individually very numerous, 

 but one misses the great development of thistles so characteristic of the 

 pampas. Malvacese are an equally conspicuous family in number of 

 species as well as individuals — mostly yellow-flowered. One beautiful 

 dwarf species is of a purple-carmine colour. A little white-flowered 

 Asclepiad and a fine yellow-flowered Iris are other noticeable 

 plants in the open Palmas. But although much of the Chaco is 

 covered with this open palm forest there is yet some variety 

 formed by the presence of occasional bands and patches of dicoty- 

 ledonous forest. A very large part of these is made up of spiny 

 Acacias and other trees of the sub-family Mimoseae only, and 

 very few of which I have been lucky enough to catch in flower 

 owing to our being fixed in our present position. These patches of 

 forest or ' Monte duro ' as they are called, are composed in great 

 part of small trees 20 feet or so in height — Acacias, Adenantherse, 

 and Myrtaceae, while here and there a solitary taller tree shoots up 

 above the usual level, most commonly a Ti'corna-like tree with 

 large yellow flowers. The ground beneath and among the lower 

 trees is covered by a spiny and impenetrable growth of Cacti and 

 more especially Bromeliacese, viz., two species of ' Caraguata.' The 

 commonest of these, a jilant with a large spike of bright red 

 bracted flowers, is of great practical importance, for the sheathing 

 bases of the leaves contain a store of cool, fresh water — the 

 collected rains and dews — which one can drink by cutting the leaves 

 in a particular way. Either this or <an allied species also supplies 

 the Indians with a most excellent fibre, out of which they spin 

 rope of great strength, thread, &c., and make rough cloth also. I 

 shall have some interesting specimens of this to show you when I 

 get home. The caraguata also serves the Indians with food ; the 

 young leaf bases and the pine-apple-like fruit are both edible 

 when cooked, although the latter jwssesses a disagreeable acridity 

 when raw. By the way, one of the chief of the many wants I 

 have felt on this expedition is the absence of anybody who knows 

 anything whatever as to the uses or qualities or even names of the 

 vegetable productions of their country. Besides these two large 

 Bromeliacese, there are also several small epiphytic Tillandsioid 

 forms, with very pretty flowers. Lianas are abundant in the woods, 

 but I have not yet found any in flower j several however, appear 



