35 



while the dainty Rhipidopteris peltata grew in masses on fallen 

 trunks. Presently the usual afternoon shower drove us to cover, 

 where we hastened to get our treasures into the drier or into pickle 

 ere the quick tropical night descended and we had to depend on 

 candle light. 



The scientific peak of the whole trip was reached when on a hill- 

 side near our stopping place we found eight species of Dicranopteris 

 (a segregate of Gleichenia) including the endemic D. co stark ensis 

 and the remarkable D. retro flexa. D. Bancroftii (Fig. 1) afforded 

 a surprise, for instead of the single fork bearing two leaflets found 



Figure 1. Dicranopteris Bancroftii filling a small ravine ; the branches of the 

 leaves are two feet long. Varra Blanca, C. R. Alt. 6000 ft. 



earlier in Jamaican plants, forks of the second, third and even fourth 

 order were characteristic of the plants in a ravine near those endemic 

 species. Stream banks displayed a huge herbaceous Senecio {Coo- 

 peri) and an equally large Eupatorium (angular e) while the 

 fuchsia used as a house plant was represented by F. arhorescens 15 

 feet high. Melastomes of various genera — trees, shrubs, and herbs 

 — were of constant occurrence, some as beautiful as climbing roses 

 {Blakea spp.). From Varra Blanca Dr. Roever took a memorable 



