38 Sarrorp: NoTES OF A NATURALIST AFLOAT—III 
aril. The latter is the part eaten, either stewed, Bee 
or baked. On the Isle of Pines it is known as “‘bra 
food.” 
The limestone region to the westward of Ponce is char- 
acterized in many places by scrubby vegetation includ- 
ing cactus thickets. There are also several palmettos, 
including Inodes causiarum Cook, from which the natives 
make hats, and Thrinax ponceana Cook, of which this is 
the type locality. Near the village of Guayanilla there 
is a veritable cactus forest including columnar and quad- 
r forms of Cereus, treelike and prostrate opuntias, 
and ‘the “melon de costa’ ’(Melocactus portoricensis.. 
j ess xerophytic plants of this region are the aromatic 
Amyris balsamifera, species of Bumelia, Forestiera, 
amia, the troublesome burgrass Cenchrus tribuloides, — 
aa pooncing to the genera Atriplex and 
