38 
long, 3 mm wide, delicate, unspotted; 
velum very narrow, almost wanting: li- 
gule triangular, two-thirds as long as 
the sporangium: macraspores chalky- 
white, 0.25-0.375 .mm_ thick, nearly 
smooth, the 3 converging ridges in 
strong relief: microspores slate-colored, 
0.028-0.033 mm thick, mostly smooth.’’— 
Underwood, bot gaz 13: 93 (Ap 1888). 
Slow streams, base of Sierra Madre, 
State of Chihuahua, Mexico, O 1887 
(Pringle 1447). 
Specimens referred to this by Under- 
wood, from San Diego mesas, and from 
Baja California (and so listed in Or, W 
Am Sci 10: 156), are identified by Eaton 
as varieties of melanopoda and orcuttii. 
BDITORIAL. 
Our correspondents must still have 
patience with us as work is yet ahead of 
our facilities. | Laborers seem not to be 
had, and the delays of moving have not 
helped us with arrears. 


THE COLORADO DESERT. 
A vast triangular-depressed plain, 
below the level of the sea for a large 
portion of its surface, with an ap- 
proximate area of twelve million 
acres .(about one-half of which lies - 
in Mexican territory), and compara- 
tively destitute of verdure or of ani- 
mal life, is the great basin known as 
the Colorado Desert. 
This remarkable region lies  be- 
tween the peninsular range of moun- 
tains and the Colorado river of the 
west, extending from the San Gor- 
gonio pass, at the base of the San 
Bernardino mountains, on the north, 
to the shores of the Gulf of Califor- 
nia, on the south, and forms one of 
the most extensive and important 
portions of the arid regions of the 
United States. On the north and 
northeast it is separated from the 
more elevated plains of the Mohave 
desert by a low range of denuded 
hills, extending from the San Bernar- 
dino mountains to near the junction 
of the Gila and Colorado rivers. Simi- 
lar arid conditions exist on the east- 
ern borders of the Colorado river, in 
39 
Arizona, and south in Sonora, and 
along the Gulf shores. 
From their rich chocolate-brown 
color, the inhospitable barrier between 
the Colorado and the Mohave deserts 
is frequently indicated on maps as 
the Chocolate mountains; but the 
range is better known to miners as 
the Chuckawalla (Lizard) mountains, 
a peculiarly appropriate name, 
from ‘the great abundance and var- 
iety of lizards, but probably given 
from some fancied resemblance in the 
outline of these hills to this nimble 
animal. 
The peninsula range of mountains, 
with a varying altitude of four thou- 
sand to eleven thousand feet, rise in 
precipitous abruptness from the 
western borders of the plains. The 
crest of this mountain range forms 
a sharp and well-defined line of de- 
markation between the arid region 
and the rich and fertile western slope. 
The summit is usually clothed with 
forests of oak and pine The western 
slope is thickly overgrown with a va- 
ried vegetation, the valleys supplied 
in a greater or less degree with tim- 
ber and water. Not so on the eastern 
declivity—the precipitous walls of rock, 
hundreds, often thousands of feet in 
height, present small inducements for 
plant growth, and the less precipitous 
banks are but slightly less devoid of 
botanical forms. 
In the mighty chasms (or canyons), 
eroded by the still active, tremendous 
forces of nature, the botanist finds 
his richest harvest amid scenery 
that for beauty and grandeur would 
rival even the Yosemite. Surround- 
ed by walls three thousand feet or 
more high, the queenly Washington 
palm (Washington fillfera) may - be 
found in groves, growing with tropi- 
cal luxuriance beside quiet brooklets, 
rivalling in beauty and novelty the 
giant Sequoia groves of California. 
Despite the large areas totally bar- 
ren of vegetable life for the larger 
portion of the year, the absolute lack 
of rain through long periods, which 
may extend over three or more years 
of time, the Colorado desert possesses 
in seasons of precipitation a flora that 
in variety and beauty of forms sur- 
