376 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th Ser. 



not been able to take up the less important results of the 

 expedition until the present time. The work of identification 

 was greatly facilitated through the kindness of Dr. Robinson 

 in allowing me to use the list of plants already compiled by 

 him. I wish here to express my thanks to Dr. Robinson for 

 this, as well as for his kindness in allowing me to publish his 

 description of Cecropia Pittieri, a new species of this genus 

 which occurs abundantly on this island. I wish also to 

 acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. W. G. Farlow for identi- 

 fication of the mosses; to Professor M. L. Fernald for much 

 assistance; to Miss Mary A. Day, Librarian of the Gray 

 Herbarium, for help in looking up the literature in connection 

 with the subject; and to Mr. H. H. Bartlett of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, for identifying the speci- 

 mens of Hypolytrum nicaraguense. The photographs were 

 made by Messrs. R. H. Beck and E. W. Gifford, members of 

 the expedition. 



Cocos is a small island which lies in longitude 86* 59' 17" 

 W., latitude 5° 32' 57" N., and is about 300 miles distant from 

 Costa Rica, to which country the island belongs. According 

 to the chart issued by the Hydrographic Office, it is about 3j4 

 miles long in a north and south direction, 3H miles broad east 

 and west, and rises to a height of 2788 feet. There are several 

 small islets a short distance off shore, beyond which the water 

 rapidly deepens, so that the thousand-fathom line is reached 

 only a short distance away. 



There are only two places where an anchorage can be 

 effected, and the interior of the island can be reached with 

 safety. Chatham Bay, which lies on the north side, affords the 

 best anchorage for vessels ; since the waters are more quiet on 

 this side of the island, and the sand beach at the end of the 

 bay affords a good landing-place for boats. A small stream 

 of water enters at the head of the bay, and, from the different 

 dates cut in the rocks about the mouth of this stream, one 

 would judge that it was often visited by vessels during the 

 early part of the last century. On either side of this bay, east 

 and west, there are tall cliffs heavily covered with tropical 

 vegetation. Wafer Bay, on the northwest side of the island, 

 is more exposed, and is subject at times to heavy swells which 

 render anchorage less safe there than in Chatham Bay. With 



