1859.] ST. LUCIA AND BARBADOS. 71 



forms of the Phsenogamous vegetation of these two islands^ but 

 this list does not contain a tithe of the flowering plants^ not to 

 speak of the magnificent Tree-Ferns^ which by their majestic and 

 graceful fronds adorn the densely wooded ravines of St. Lucia; 

 many of these colossal plants vie with the Palms in magnitude, 

 and attain a perpendicular height of twenty or thirty feet ; other 

 stemless Ferns have fronds ten or twelve feet long:. In these 

 sunny isles the trees are adorned with blossoms of every hue and 

 form, but those belonging to the Leguminifercs seem to be the 

 most numerous^ the largest of which is the Tamarind {Tama- 

 rindus occidentalis) , a beautiful tree with pinnated leaves, and 

 common to both islands. 



The members of the Convolvulacets and Cucurbitacea are 

 also abundant. These islands being intertropical, almost the 

 entire arborescent vegetation is composed of evergreens. A 

 variety of climbing and twining plants adorn the trees, mount- 

 ing to their tops and garlanding their branches with blossoms 

 of the richest azure and gold, which hang in graceful festoons, 

 charming the eye with their beauty and perfuming the air with 

 their fragrance. After such a panegyric, the British botanist 

 will be ready to exclaim, " Woiild that I were in those Hespe- 

 ridian Isles, then would I feast my soul in the study of Florals 

 fairest treasures !" But stop a little : although neither man- 

 traps nor prohibitory signboards there meet your eye in these 

 unenclosed forests, which are free for all to range, enemies 

 equally to be dreaded lie concealed, ready to pounce upon the 

 unwary traveller whenever disturbed. There "poisonous ser- 

 pents roll,^^ whose bite is certain death if speedy measures are 

 not adopted to prevent it, the only certain and effective remedy 

 being immediate excision of the part bitten, and afterwards 

 cauterization of the wound. 



Another enemy to the flower-gleaner will likely be the land 

 crab [Cancer ruricola), which peoples the forest in thousands. 

 This animal has two formidable fore claws, and burrows among 

 the dense vegetation under the trees, and when touched or pur- 

 sued, raises up its talons in self-defence, and woe to the unwary 

 intruder who shakes hands with such an opponent; for so 

 powerful is the iron grasp of Cancer, that a separation is only 

 efieeted at the expense of his life or limb : the loss of the latter, 

 so far from being a permanent misfortune, is only a temporary 



