BOTANY. 397 



limited myself to giving- in the annexed catalogue the names of 

 genera only. Species can only be determined with absolute 

 accuracy in large cities, where collections of plants, and libraries 

 of reference, can supply all comparative information. I could 

 give only approximate determinations, which would prove of no 

 real use ; I have, therefore, preferred giving none. 



The lists of species which I have seen of other islands, such 

 as Barbadoes and St. Thomas, fully corroborate the truth of what 

 I assert ; for they are replete with errors of all sorts, merely 

 because the writers thought it incumbent on them to particularise 

 the species. 



Forest-growths take the most predominant place in our 

 vegetation; and that which at once strikes the European on 

 reaching our shores is the multiplied variety of forms and 

 foliage they present. A large number of families contribute 

 their quota to these formations ; among which may be 

 mentioned Palms and Lauraceae, Rubiacese and Apocynaceae, 

 Verbenaceae and Cordiaceae, Myrsinacese and Sapotacese ; as also 

 Ebenaceae, Myristicaceae and Anonaceae, Capparidaceae, Mal- 

 vaceae, and Sterculiaceae ; with Tiliacese, Ternstromiaceae and 

 ClusiaceaB, Meliaceae and Cedrelaceae, Malpighiaeeae and Sapin- 

 daceae, Euphorbiaceae and Burseraceae, Simarubaceae and 

 Diosmeae, Melastomaceae and Myrtaceae, ChrysobalanaceaD, and, 

 lastly, perhaps the richest family, Leguminosae, or Fabaceae, 

 including Swartzieae, and Mimoseae. A glance at this list of 

 families shows at once the difference which exists between these 

 forests and those of higher latitudes, where, not only a few 

 families, but also a few species, form the whole woodland 

 vegetation. Nor ought it to be believed that only a paucity of 

 the above families is met with in each forest, for the aggregate 

 is almost everywhere of the same variety, whilst the species, and 

 genera, perhaps, are different. In plains, with a fertile soil, for 

 instance, certain forms predominate, without altogether exclud- 

 ing others ; and the like arrangement occurs in other localities. 

 A rich soil is generally indicated by the cabbage-palm (Areca 

 oleracea), and the carat (Coper nicia) ; whereas, the timit 

 (Manicaria) grows in light sandy soils, generally in company 

 of a variety of trees of the myrtle tribe. In general, palms are 

 indicative of the quality of the soil, and of the respective 

 productions which can be raised on a given spot. 



