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the collections already made, and for studies of mosses in the 
vicinity, sailed from Mayaguez on the afternoon of February 17, 
and arrived at Desecheo, about 18 miles northwest, at sunrise the 
next morning 
Desecheo has an area of somewhat more than 1 square mile, 
and is almost wholly bordered by rocky coasts. It rises abruptly 
into several hills, the highest of them probably about 400 feet 
in altitude; its rocks are partly eruptive, but there are stratified 
tilted series at the water-level on its western side, and also an 
old raised beech, elevated about 20 feet, composed of several 
kinds of rocks and pebbles. The soil, at least in the valleys, is 
quite deep and the vegetation dense, despite the low rainfall, 
which is evidenced by the great abundance of eight species of 
ase cacti. The largest tree is the so-called West Indian 
ch (Elaphrium Simaruba), with trunks up to a foot in diameter. 
ie Hess had accompanied Professor F. L. Stevens to Desecheo 
at the end of May, 1913, at which time they spent parts of two 
days in the first botanical collecting accomplished there; I had 
studied a set of these collections, sent by them to the Garden, 
and we, therefore, collected for the most part only species not 
obtained by them; the two expeditions visited nearly all parts 
of the island and, presumably, collected specimens of nearly all 
of the land plants existing there, Professor Stevens having given 
special attention to the parasitic fungi; it is probable that few 
marine algae could be had, for the island is in deep water and the 
ocean swells break heavily upon it, even on the western, leeward 
side, and we saw no evidence of reefs. A single species of land 
species were obtained, and there are probably more. We col- 
lected a few kinds of the larger fungi growing on decayed wood, 
and others probably exist; two species of toadstools were found 
and lost. Two species of hepatics were obtained on trees and 
rocks in a same valley where the land alga was found, and four 
kinds of mosses were seen. The only fern noticed is the xero- 
er Le microphylla, quite abundant on some of the 
hillsides. The total number of kinds of flowering plants ob- 
