132 AMERICAN FerN JoURNAL 
eracks and hollows in the underlying rock. 
The c'imate of the island is, of course, oceanic and 
quite equable. The latitude being but about twenty-one 
degrees north, the extreme range of the thermometer 
lies between about 50° and 100° F. The temperatures 
experienced by the writer during his sojourn on the island 
in May, with the sun exactly overhead at noon, were from — 
82° to 92° F. during the day, while at night, temperatures 
as low as 70° F. were rarely experienced. The tempera- 
ture of the ocean water on the beaches was 80°-82° F., 
while a mineral spring at Santa Fé was said to recicie 
_ 88° F. The well and spring waters, so far as tested, 
ranged generally from about 68° to 80° F. as they came from a 
the ground. The island has a dry season, with showers | 
very rarely, from November to May, while during the _ 
_ latter month, or about the first of June, there begins a 
Wet season, with torrential rains, which fill to the brim 
the sharply cut channels of the rivers, and flood — “ 
- of the low-lying plains. 8 
_ ‘The first ten days of our stay i in the Isle of Pines was . 
spent in the exploration of the northeastern portion of 
_ the island, with Nueva Gerona as the base of operations. 
Nueva Gerona lies between the Tidges Caballos and _ 
"Casas, on the Casas river, about two miles from the sea. 
The soil is mainly Mal Pais Gravel clay on the gentle undu- — 
i —— and knolls, with n more or less of the the light-colored — 
sandy | 1 on the e lower levels, this 
