45 
My first collections were made July 28 on the lower sierras, 
close by the village, and during the following weeks that I 
remained there frequent excursions were made to the various 
types of sierras, some of which I ascended, others were crossed, 
some were gone around and I passed underneath one of them. 
They vary in height to about 1,000 feet, rising abruptly from the 
valley of Rio Cuyaguateje, which at this point is about 250 feet 
above sea-level; they are isolated, in groups, or in short ranges 
and in several instances cut across the valley, compelling the 
river to pass underneath them through caverns; at another place 
the river forces its way through a deep narrow gorge. Smaller 
streams also encounter such barriers before reaching the main 
river and pass into caverns, or disappear at the foot of an inter- 
rupting cliff. 
: e sierras are solid rock masses of hard, dark-colored lime- 
stone similar to those near Guane, visited by me last winter. 
They are pe bare, especially on their southern and oe 
faces. The most prominent trees are ‘Palma de Sierra 
Gaussia princeps, ‘‘ Drago,” Bombax emarginaium, a large serene 
ing-topped Ficus, and ‘‘Bonita de Sierra,” Spathelia Brittonii, 
a eee neeiien hard-wooded tree, attaining a height o 
about 30 feet with a maximum trunk diameter of four inches; 
its leaves, all nie on the top and at this season terminated by 
a large panicle of numerous, small rose-colored flowers, making it 
a very striking object as it is perched at inaccessible points high 
up on the side of a bare sierra. They are not abundant, but 
occur in scattered individuals. After the tree has ripened its 
fruit, it dies; the dry trunk remains standing for several years, 
as the wood is very durable. I was informed it is highly prized 
for fence posts. An arborescent cycad, Micrecycas calocoma, 
also occurs among loose rocks on top of some of these sierras, 
especially on one about 700 feet altitude on the west boundary of 
La Guira, where it is called ‘‘Palo de Chivo.”’ At this point it 
d in aa ae numbers and all sizes from young 
was foun 
trunks six inches tall to old ones probably twenty-five feet by 
eight inches in diam No inflorescence or fruits rewarded a 
diligent search. sine tall specimens that had their tops 
