The West American Scientist. 



Vol. II. San Diego, Calif., March, 1886. No. 14. 



GUADALUPE ISLAND, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 



Ten years ago ' This sweet lone isle amid the sea ' — I am not responsible for the 

 application of this line — was first visited by a naturalist, in the person of Dr. Ed- 

 ward Palmer, well known from the important botanical collections he has made 

 in Northern Mexico and in the southern territories of the United States. There 

 is something like a charm attaching to the animal and vegetable life of the remote 

 islands of the great oceans, for most of them suj port plants and birds and other or- 

 ganisms peculiar to themselves, often, however, associated with plant), at least, 

 of almost world-wide littoral distribution ; but the presence of the latter element is 

 due to situation and the nature of the shores, concerning which I have something 

 moie to say later on. Guadalupe Island is about the size of the Isle of Wight, and 

 is in 29'^ north latitude, about 100 miles from the western coast of Lower California, 

 lying in the course of the great ocean current which flows southward from Alaska. 

 It consists of a large tableland about 3000 feet high, its volcanic rocky side being 

 in most places too precipitous for even a goat to climb, and almost wholly bar. en. 

 The plateau is interrupted by a central ridge, some points of which rise 1000 feet 

 higher; but the tableland portion of the island is pleasant, with a considerable 

 breadth of open grassy plain, some miles of Cypress woods, and several springs of 

 excellent water ; although there are no streams that flow after the winter rains have 

 ceased. 



The climate of Guadalupe is described as colder than that of the coast regions 

 of even the central part of California, a circumstance due to its position in the direct 

 path of winds and currents that sweep down from the arctic regions. Fogs are 

 heavy and prevalent, especially in the higher parts of the island; >et the south is 

 sunny and excessively hot and dry in the summer, so much so that all vegetation is 

 in some seasons completely scorched up. As already mentioned, it is colder than 

 the opposite coast, especially in the northern exposures ; ice an inch in thickness has 

 been observed in the middle of the island, and snow to tlie depth of 2 inches, fol- 

 lowed by several days of cold rain. Yet in the northern extremity it keeps clear 

 and warm, and it is warm in the lower canyons or ravines. 



Dr. Palmer collected 110 species of flowering plants, which are communicated 

 by Mr. Sereno Watson in the eleventh volume of the Proceedings of the Amerkan 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences. Omitting a species of Heuchera, the specimen of which 



