54 THE WEST AMEEICAN SCIENTIST. 



few variations suitable to the occasion, we enter our camp for the eighth night, 

 beautifully situated in a grove of live oaks and by a clear running stream, in season 

 to escape driving in the rain, which continues throughout the night and the follow- 

 ing forenoon. In the afternoon of the 7th we i)roceed to Sauzal, where another suc- 

 cessful raid on ' Lake Superior ' and hens' nests is made. 



Spending April 8th in exploring the cypress canyon near by, revisiting the lo- 

 cality of a new cushion cactus discovered in 1883, we make a few interesting ' finds,' 

 and then to camp, where a pleasant evening is passed * swapping lies ' with some of 

 the old settlers. Among some of the interesting ' facts ' of a scientific character was 

 an account of a * trout weighing a pound and eleven inches,' a graphic sketch of the 

 whales chasing men ashore up into trees and then kicking at them with their tails in 

 the vicinity of Magdalena bay, a complaint of how difficult it was to raise potatoes 

 in the region on account of the ababones* coming ashore in the night and digging 

 and eating them, with the statement that abalones preferred potatoes to wheat, and 

 various disquisitions on the flea, mosquito, bed-bug, bear and other noxious insects. 

 The company would have entertained any scientific audience with their original ob- 

 servations of nature. 



The 9th of April we pass through Encenada, and along the shores of All Saints 

 bay, by magnificent fields of the golden California poppy, phacelias, layia elegans, 

 orthocarpu-, baerias, larkspurs, platystemon and other delicate annuals 

 and j)erennials which lent an added charm to the beautiful view of land and 

 sea that was spread out before us on every hand. An I thus for mile after mile we 

 alternately contemplate the rich garden of flowers and the beautiful scenery. 



On the morning of the 10th a deer looks in upon us in the early twilight, and as 

 silently vanishes from our sight. Find a few flowers of the pungent spice-bush, 

 ptelea aptera. A noted botanist tasted of the ptelea in 1850, and upon seeing the 

 shrub again (in 1883) remarked that he could ' taste it yet ' — but he did not seem to 

 choose to do so! Breakfasting on pinoche (hard cakes of sugar made by Mexicans, 

 resembling maple sugar somewhat) and pickles, we bid good-by to another camp 

 and travel up the La Grulla canyon till we reach a fine camping ground by dwarf 

 live oak trees (the last we are to see till we return) and clear running water. Se- 

 lecting a place where our heads will lie down hill and the water can run into the 

 tent, we make camp. Without an elaborate breakfast and no dinner, our supper of 

 griddle cakes and melted pinoche was quite welcome. Saxifraga reflexa and Habe- 

 naria cooperi were found near by camp, and were the most important discoveries 

 made betwe n the showers, which continued during Sunday and Monday. 



However, the 12th we break camp, pass Santo Tomas, and collect a new Isoetes 

 with Pilularia Americana in a little temporary lagoon which we find among the 

 hills beyond. Also re-collect the tetracoccus in full flower. 



The 13th, fix the roads some, collect numerous gold ferns and notholaenas and 

 then ride in the rain to Gua laloupe ranche number two, where we were hospitably 

 treated by the Senora Moreno and her son and daughters, and succeed in drying 



*The abalone is a large mollusk nearly as incapable of motion as the oyster, we would state for 

 the benefit of those unacquainted with it. 



