1871.] 265 [Grayson. 



The abundance of food that the insectivorous birds find among the 

 vast amount of decaying logs and branches, which harbor innumer- 

 able coleoptera and their larva?, is one cause of their fatness ; another 

 is their freedom from molestation by man, and the various species of 

 hawks and other animals of a ravenous nature, which keep them in 

 a constant state of watchfulness on the main shore. If these islands 

 are interesting to the ornithologist, they would be equally so to the 

 botanist and geologist. 



"The giant cactus (Cereus giganteus) grows here to an enormous 

 size, and seems to vie with tall trees among which it is found. The 

 dark higuera (Ficus Americanus) spreads its immense branches, up- 

 held by the roots sent to earth to support them, giving the tree the 

 appearance of the famous banyan. 



"The stupendous cedar (Cedrela odorata) with its rough bark and 

 pinnated leaves, its huge branches overgrown with curious orchids, is 

 king of the woods, and resembles in its outward form the black 

 walnut. 



"The Palo prieto, with its smooth green bark, its tall and straight 

 trunk crowned with fresh looking and evergreen foliage, together 

 with the hardness and durability of its wood, is one of the most 

 beautiful, as well as useful trees of the forest. Here too, the gigan- 

 tic silk cotton tree (Eriodendron anfractuosum) with its spheroid 

 pods suspended to its wide spreading branches, is conspicuous. Va- 

 rious other handsome and strange trees interlaced and festooned with 

 the innumerable lianes and creepers, among which the wild hop is 

 most abundant, overshadowing the earth, give to the forest a dark 

 and wild aspect. Scattered through the woods is a species of mag- 

 uey that exceeds in size any plant of the kind ever seen by me, their 

 long, spear-shaped leaves measuring six to eight feet in length, the 

 head or stalk proportionally large. When in flower, the flower stem 

 reaches to the height of forty or fifty feet, where it branches off like 

 a candelabra. It blooms once in seven years, and then dies. There 

 is a great abundance of this plant growing in certain localities. 

 The San Juanito is partly covered by it. The palms are not repre- 

 sented in the islands, while upon the near coast, below San Bias, 

 they are abundant, particularly the Palma Real. 



"Here are hundreds of plants to interest the botanist, many of 

 which I am certain are new. I found the true wild cotton, not 

 growing as a tree, but a plant laden with small bolls or pods, contain- 

 ing a very silky yellowish fibre, and black seed. The bolls were not 



