THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 241 



have called the high coppice where moisture is more plentiful. It may 

 perhaps be explained from the dry conditions being here modified by an un- 

 usually productive soil, for the soil is of red loam, which is the most fertile 

 on the Islands. 



On the opposite side of the island from the town we found several hog- 

 cabbage palms growing in a thick coppice of Reynosia septentrionalis Urban 

 (Darling plum). This was the third time we had seen the hog-cabbage palm, 

 and nowhere was it large. 



WHICH POINT, ABACO. 



The shore at this point was rocky and sandy. In addition to the usual 

 beach plants, such as Suriana maritima L., Salmea petrobioides Griseb., 

 Tournefortia gnaphalodes (Jacq.) R. Br., Uniola paniculata L., Iva imbri- 

 cata Walt., Distichlis maritima Eaf., Cenchrus tribuloides L., Ambrosia hispida 

 Pursh, Hymenocallis arenicola Northrop, and Ipomcea pes-caprce L., etc., we 

 found here for the second time the new Euphorbia with whitish leaves (Euphor- 

 bia cayensis Millsp.), first collected from Rum Cay. On the low, narrow sand 

 ridge just back of the beach grew an abundance of Dodoncea viscosa L., men- 

 tioned above from Rum Cay, and a little Ichthyomethia piscipula (L.) Hitch. 

 (Dog- wood), neither of which had before been seen in such a situation. In ad- 

 dition to these, the principal plants of this elevation were Cassia choriophylla 

 (Cinnecord), Ernodea littoralis Sw., Bourreria havanensis (L.) Miers 

 (Strong-back), Jacquinia keyensis Mez (Joe-wood), Erithalis fruticosa L. 

 (Black torch), Bumelia loranthifolia (Pierre) Britton (Milk plum), Genipa 

 dusicefolia (Jacq.) Griseb., Tetrazygia bicolor (Mill.) Cogn., Torrubia longi- 

 folia (Heimerl) Britton, Swietenia mahogani L. (Mahogany), Fagara coriacea 

 (Yellow-wood), and Cassytha filiformis L. Juniperus barbadensis L. (Cedar) 

 was not seen here, but occurred sparingly farther inland. Behind the beach 

 was a Conocarpus-flat of the usual character, and this was followed by the 

 extensive pine-barrens, which occupy a large part of the island. The ground 

 in these barrens was covered with a dense, tangled growth of Pteridium can- 

 datum (L.) Kuhn (Maypole fern) from 4 to 6 feet high. This growth we 

 found more difficult to penetrate than any we had met with. Our progress 

 could hardly be called walking, and it took us about an hour to pass a half 

 mile into it. This extraordinarily dense growth of fern was no doubt partly 

 to be accounted for by the repeated burnings to which the forest had been sub- 

 jected in order to facilitate the "hunting of wild" hogs. Plate XXXVII, Fig. 2, 



16 



