THE NAUTILUS. 103 



Of characteristic trees one sliould mention the gigantic Ceiha^ the 

 " West-Indian God-tree," with its strangely distorted and buttressed 

 trunks ; the Almacigo^ whose maroon-red bark peels off much after 

 the fashion of our sycamore ; and a heavy-foliaged evergreen, the 

 Indian laurel' everywhere abundant. The deep holes which often 

 corrugate the trunk of the last-named species are favorite retreats 

 for Liguus fascintus, Miill., and the common Eurycnmpta honplandi^ 

 Lam. On the Giiiness road near Camoa, I took sixteen specimens 

 of this noble shell from the " crevices" of a single tree. 



At Matanzas I saw the Salvadera ,*• a rather large tree whose 

 fruit, when fully ripe, discharges its wedge-shaped seed from a large 

 spherical pod with a violent explosion. When such a catastrophe 

 overtook one of my specimens in my room at the hotel, I am not 

 sure but that the other guests had good cause to suspect a suicidal 

 termination of an unclassified American. 



On my trip to Camoa I collected a shrub, the leaflets of which 

 strongly reminded me of our native holly. That evening my Cuban 

 host, seeing what I had in my bag, held up his hands in horror, 

 crying, " Guao ! Guao ! ," and immediately calling some tongs into 

 requisition, unceremoniously disposed of my beautiful plants. I had 

 collected one of the most poisonous plants* on the Island. A 

 terrible pain and swelling usually attends infection, often fever, and 

 some natures are so sensitive to it that they cannot pass under its 

 shade without being poisoned. But though it was prophesied that I 

 would pay dearly the penalty of my ignorance, no appreciable 

 inconvenience was suffered. Being already immune to its relative, 

 our common poison-oak,' I am tempted to experiment next with that 

 unnamed plant which Professor Simpson so utterly abhorred.' 



^ Ceiba pentandra Gaertn. —Eriodendron anfractuosum D. C. 



* Bur sera gummifera L., of the older authorities, now called Elaphrium 

 timaruba (L.)- This tree is common in Florida, there being known as the 

 ^^ gumbo limbo." ^ Ficus nilida L. 



* Ilura crepitans h., oi ihe i&vaWy Euphorbiaccse, called in English-speaking 

 countries '■'■sand-box." 



^Comocladia platyphjlla. Another member of this genus which occurs in the 

 Western provinces of Cuba is C. dentata. The (IJippomane mancinella L.), 

 however, is a much more dangerous jilant, and immunity from one class ot 

 poisons does not justify such a prospect in respect to others. 



^ Rhus radicans Linn. 'See "Collector's Journal," Vol. I, No. 4, in loco. 



