Vol. I] STEWART— BOTANY OF THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS Hi 



ft. high, the relative positions of the two being such that one 

 would judge that the taller was the parent of the procumbent 

 specimen. A short distance away from these there was another 

 individual, with a stem approximately 2 ft. high and 1 ft. in 

 diameter. The general arrangement of the branches, and the 

 arming of the articulations in all three of these specimens, was 

 the same, so that there seems to be but little doubt of their all 

 belonging to the same species, (no. 3002). None of these low 

 forms were noticed on the adjacent Hood Island, a fact that 

 may be due to the presence of goats on the latter. It might be 

 well to mention in this connection that stemless Opuntias also 

 occur on Bindloe, Culpepper, Gardner (near Charles), Tower, 

 and Wenman Islands, and with the exception of the Seymour 

 Islands these are the only islands of importance in the group 

 from which land-tortoises or their remains have not been 

 reported. When this is considered together with the fact that 

 the branches of Opuntias form the principal article of food of 

 these animals on the lower parts of all of the islands where they 

 occur, a suggestion is given as to the possible origin of the 

 arborescent forms, or at least why the low forms have persisted 

 on the islands where they have been undisturbed. Hood Isl. : 

 generally distributed all over the island except on the southeast 

 side, where they appear to be almost entirely absent for a mile 

 or more back from the shore, (no. 3003). James Isl. : north- 

 east side, abundant on lava beds to above 700 ft. Above 450 

 ft. the spines are more capillary than they are on specimens 

 seen lower down. 



This species has a relatively short trunk, which is usually 

 1-1^ ft. in diameter, but sometimes as much as 4^ ft. 

 Branches are usually sent off 6-7 ft. above the ground, and as 

 they all come off from about the same level, the crown is regu- 

 larly rounded, broadly spreading, and somewhat umbrella- 

 shaped. The outer articulations are disk-like and covered with 

 fascicles of capillary bristles, while the proximal ones are 

 thickened, unarmed, and covered with the same kind of brown- 

 ish periderm that covers the trunk. The flowers are yellow, 

 7.5 cm. in diameter, contrary to Henslows' description, 1. c. 

 The fruit is green, and not red as mentioned by Andersson, see 

 Hemsley, (3), 31. A Cereus was no doubt mistaken for an 

 Opuntia in this instance, as Cereus is the only genus of this 



