II. — An Enumeration of the Plants Collected by Dr. Thomas 

 Moromg in Paraguay, 1888-1890. 



BY THOMAS MORONG AND N. L. BRITTON, 

 WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF MISS ANNA MURRAY VAIL. 



Bead June 6, 1892. 



The journey in which the plants enumerated and described in this 

 paper were collected was made in the years 1888, 1889, and 1890. 

 It was undertaken under the auspices of the Torrey Botanical Club, 

 and by the aid of two members of that organization and a generous 

 friend of science in Boston, Mass. 



With the exception of a few plants hastily snatched by the writer 

 at or near Buenos Aires, while waiting to proceed up the Rio de la 

 Plata, the main part of the specimens was obtained in central Para- 

 guay within a radius of 100 miles from Asuncion. In January, 

 1890, an exploration of the Pilcomayo River, a tributary of the 

 Paraguay which forms the boundary line between western Para- 

 guay and the Argentine Republic, was set on foot by the Paraguay 

 Land Company, and the writer was invited to act as naturalist of 

 the expedition. A small steamer was built in England for the pur- 

 pose, and sent up the river under the command of Prof. 0. J. Storm, 

 of Buenos Aires. After a well nigh herculean effort, lasting six 

 months, to overcome the obstructions of this little stream, consist- 

 ing of shallows, sand-bars, and innumerable snags and old logs, 

 and after proceeding nearly 400 miles, stemming on the way many 

 swift and dangerous rapids and a waterfall around which the steamer 

 was dragged by land, we encountered an immense swamp or lagoon 

 overgrown with grasses and weeds through which it was impossible 

 to force a way by any means at our command, and the expedition 

 was necessarily abandoned. All of this region, lying in the Gran 

 Chaco, is uninhabited except by tribes of roving savages, and much 

 of it had never been previously traversed by civilized men. Here 

 a considerable, and not the least interesting, portion of the plants 

 was collected. 



The notes appended to the species are taken in all cases from 

 Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., VII, Dec. 1892. 



