664 Part IV. Chapter 6. 
especially on the Gulf side along Honduras Bay, Rio Dulce, Caratasca La- 
goon, the deltas of the Prinzapolca, Cuculaia and Coco rivers and on the 
Pacific side in the Gulf of Fonseca. The shores of Utila and Ruatan islands 
are also mangrove fringed. The plants of this formation are essentially the 
same as for the formation in Mexico, 
ı. Forest-, Chaparral- and Savannah Formations. 
Tropic Rain Forest Formation. Two types of the tropic rain forest exist, 
one which covers the plains and shows transition to tree savannas and another 
type, subtropic and tropic, which covers the mountains or sierras of the country. 
These two types may be considered to constitute one formation which covers 
a large part of the state of Chiapas in the drainage basin of the Usumacinta 
River and its tributaries the Rio Lacantun, Rio Chixoy, the northern part of 
Guatemala extending around the Sea of Yzabal into Honduras where it covers 
an irregular territory located in the basins of the Rio Motagua, Rio Ulua, on 
the Sierra de Omoa, Sierra del Espiritu Santo and along the north coast in 
a broad strip between the parallels of 84° 30’ and 87° 45’ W. longitude. This 
formation covers almost completely the country in eastern Honduras situated 
between the 84° and 86° W. longitude and ı2° 30’ and ı5° 30’N. latitude, 
while it extends also into northern Nicaragua. In Guatemala on the Pacific 
coast, it forms a narrow strip inside of the coastal savannas. Along the Sierra 
de Olancho and Sierra de Misoco, two broad tongues of this formation enter 
the oak and pine forest formation. 
The forest of the tierra caliente is one of much richness. In Honduras, according to 
MORRIS), notbing so impresses the traveller as the profusion and diversity of palms including 
an abundance of Oreodoxa oleracea and Euterpe edulis, both West Indian palms of which 
we have no other evidence of their occurring in Central America. Other prominent genera are 
Attalea (A. Cohune at San Pedro, Honduras, see plate V at p. 304) Bactris, Geonoma, 
Thrinax, Sabal, Acrocomia, Acanthorhiza, Desmoncus and Chamaedorea, several of them like 
the last being represented by a number of species. Swietenia mahagoni, wild Theobroma 
cacao, Cedrela odorata, Guaiacum officinale, Achras sapota, Leucaena esculenta, 
Castilloa elastica, Haematoxylon campechianum, Ceiba pentandra, Morus tinctoria 
enter into the composition of this forest. A useful indicator of climate is the Taxixco, Pery- 
menium Tuerckheimii, a tree which is confined in Alta Vera Paz to elevations between 
slopes, it occu n elevation of 1600 meters because the Pacific climate is less moist 
than that of Alta var Paz. Elsewhere this tree is found, as at San Pedro, at an elevation of 
2100 meters, — Liquidambar styraciflua is also useful as an index of climatic conditions 
for in Alta Vera Paz, Baja Vera Paz and in Zacapa, it grows at elevations ranging from 
800—1,900 meters. These two trees are characteristic ones for the tierra tem h 
Orchids are represented by the genera Oncidium and Epidendrum, EBEN Chysis, Maxil- 
laria, Catasetum, Mormodes, Coryanthes and Dichaea; the most common are Schomburgkia 
tibiecinis and Epidendrum bicornutum growing in the greatest profusion, even within 
reach of the salt spray from the sea. Each tree has its branches loaded with orchids and 
bromeliads and its trunk festooned with climbing aroids, ferns and mosses. 
ı) Hemstey, W. B.: Biologia Centrali-Americana. IV: ı 51—152, 
