103 
Santo Domingo, while Mrs. Britton and Miss Marble went 
across Porto Rico on the motor-bus to Coamo Springs 
The flora of Porto Rico is, in ae better known aaah that 
of the Virgin Islands, and, wit e exception of that of St. 
Thomas, much better an in museums and _ herbaria. 
Preis ious to the annexation of the island by the United States, 
t had been studied by Spanish and by German botanists, and 
its botanical literature is considerable, eae by the publica- 
tion, between the years 1903 and I911I, of the valu ng “Blor 
eee written by Professor ia of the Berlin eae 
arden, a critical list of the flowering plants and ferns only, 
but without descriptions of the plants, and thus not applicable 
to general use. Soon after the Sie occupation, visits 
were made by botanists from the New York Botanical Garde 
the Field Museum of Natural History, 7 Uni pias and t 
United States Department of Agriculture, and collections ee 
between 1899 and 1906, which added much to the earlier Spanish 
and German work. More recently resident American botanists 
ies supplemented these collections and it has become apparent 
that Professor Urban’s list is not a complete catalogue, while 
there is no comprehensive er dealing with the lower 
les ele t Professor A. W. Evans’ studies of the liver- 
The recent establishment of the College of Agriculture 
i ae ee of Porto Rico, and the diffusion of knowledge 
by it and by the schools, make the preparation of a descriptive 
flora of Porto Rico an educational necessity, and further a 
work highly desirable; the same considerations apply t 
zoology and to the geology of nie colony and a complete nee 
and natural history survey would be of great value, not alone to 
Porto Ricans but as an important contribution to scientific 
knowledge. 
Dr. Shafer and I gave five days to studies and collections in 
the vicinity of Fajardo, reaching the mountain forest above Rio 
Arriba, where, among many trees of interest, we found the spiny 
coyure palm a bearing clusters of its beautiful bright red 
fruits, a quantity of which was secured for germination at home 
at the Agricultural Experiment Station at Mayaguez; 
