SaFFORD: NOTES OF A NATURALIST AFLOAT—I 123 
age of this species was smooth and glossy and the pendent 
frut, cigarshaped or fusiform, had in some eases begun 
to sprout while still hanging on the limbs. This proved 
to be Rhizophora mangle, the most common mangrove of 
tropical shores. Another species had olive'ike leaves, 
white beneath, and clusters of small inconspicuous flowers. 
It was without the arched roots of the species just de- 
scribed, but it sent up from out the mud peculiar fingerlike 
vertical breathing roots. This proved to be Avicennia 
nitida, also a widely distributed species. Perched among 
the branches of the mangroves were herons and egrets, 
- which they held up in a menacing attitude. 
On boarding the train to cross the Isthmus I met 
several French engineers,. from wage I got a good 
deal of interesting inf g the construction © 
of the proposed canal. They had been on the Isthmus — 
a little more than a month, having been among the first 
to arrive, the latter part of February. Little had as yet 
been accomplished. A trail had been blazed through — ee 
the forest, and some excavation had been made at a 
