68 
on foot four miles farther, collecting as we went. This region 
was moist and very rich in fungi, as well as in ferns, mosses, and 
epiphytes. Being generally known only to charcoal-burners, it 
is doubtful if it has ever before been visited by a botanist. Quan- 
tities of deer, wild pigs, cats, and other animals live undisturbed 
in this primeval forest. We secured 175 numbers of very inter- 
esting fungi and returned to Cuernavaca by sunset. It would be 
useless to attempt to give here any adequate idea of the flora of 
this valley. 
On the afternoon of December 29, we left Cuernavaca for 
Colima, arriving December 31, after a continuous railway journey 
of over twenty-four hours from Mexico City. For most of this 
distance, our route lay through fertile valleys similar to those 
already described, the elevation at Guadalajara being 5,000 feet, 
or 2,500 feet lower than Mexico City, and the descent to Colima 
being a further drop of 3,500 feet. The climate at Guadalajara 
is very similar to that at Cuernavaca, only it is more exposed to 
north winds. On the way to Colima, the temperature gradually 
increases and the vegetation becomes more tropical, but, during 
the dry season, collecting must be confined chiefly to the bar- 
rancas and river valleys. 
At Mazatepec, about an hour's ride from Guadalajara, are 
large storage reservoirs 5 for irrigating the valley below, and not 
Nicolas, the train climbs a steep ridge over 5,000 feet above sea- 
level, affording a magnificent view of the long valley already 
traversed. Here were the first plantations of Agave seen since 
leaving the valley of the Lerma, and it proved to be quite a 
different plant from the pulque-plant of the tableland, the leaves 
being slenderer and more densely clustered, with a distinct bluish 
tint. This is the maguey de vino, the source of the Tequila 
