The Inheritance 15 
from Atlantic to Pacific than the song of the 
Carolina; and it is equally true that no Ameri- 
can bird has a more touching and beautiful 
quality of voice than is revealed in those 
descending notes of the cafion wren, heard in 
the wild rocky gorges of the South-West. 
As with the birds, so with the flowers; the 
botanist newly arrived in California will 
recognise quickly many well-known families 
and will be pleasantly aware of family traits: 
Crowfoot, Mustard, Pink, Mallow, Pea, 
Spurge, Buckthorn, Saxifrage, Stonecrop, 
Composite, Heath, Lily, Rose, Mint, Milk- 
weed, Waterleaf, Borage, Convolvulus, 
Nightshade, Figwort, and others. But he will 
soon discover that these orders are largely 
represented by other genera than those to 
which he is accustomed. Thus Ceanothus, 
Arctostaphylos or Manzanita, Lupine, Gilia, 
Phacelia, Pentstemon, Calochortus, Castilleia, 
and Audibertia are in the ascendant, and 
throughout the arid parts of the South-West, 
the various genera of the Cacti, the Yucca, 
the genus Acacia, Prosopis the mesquite, and 
Astragalus the locoweed are plants as typical 
as mullein, bayberry, and sweetfern of a New 
England pasture. In our winter migration 
not only do we meet Western members of the 
