182 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. . (VoL. XXXIX. 
being the larger, by a fresh-water swamp, the ** Cienaga," that 
runs across the island from east to west. 
The land south of the Cienaga is of coral formation with a 
very shallow soil spread over the coral rock, and with deep holes 
or pits everywhere. A number of prints of fossil shells of 
various kinds were observed in the coral rock. Fires devastate 
this part of the island, burning up the soil and the very roots of 
the trees and leaving nothing behind but the bare coral rock, 
and the region is very sparsely inhabited. The trees of this 
region are mostly hard wood, there being no pine and very few 
royal palms. 
North of the Cienaga, the country is of a very different char- 





Fic. 3.— Casas River, Caballos fuis qund in e distance. Mangrove bushes in the fore- 
ground along the river, and a palmetto scrub 

acter. There are here a number of mountains rising abruptly 
from the plain, Pico de la Dacuilla, the highest, having an 
altitude of about 2000 feet. The flat country is diversified by 
pastures, cultivated fields, open pine woods, and groves of royal 
palms and palmettos and along the water courses there are dense 
tropical forests. ' The mountain sides are very rocky and are 
clothed chiefly with scrub and thorn bushes and, where there is 
soil enough, some good-sized trees. The banks of the rivers and 
