50 



BONINSIMA. 



presents a strange mixture of forms belonging to the tropical and the tem- 

 perate zones. The most common tree, growing gregariously, is a species of 



Calophyllum ^15 ~ ; 3 | 4 e^, apparently the same as that of the Caroline 



and Marianne groups. The bark of the stem is rough, and of a dark brown colour, 

 that of the branches much more tender, and light yellow. The wood, of a dark 

 reddish brown, takes a fine polish, and seems well adapted for carpentry and 

 cabinet work. Near it grows the Hernandia ovigera, hardly less abundant (8 | 9 1), 

 known by its smooth cream-coloured bark, and the numerous roundish excrescences 

 of the stem ; its thick foliage is of a fine fresh green. The above-mentioned Ter- 

 minalia (12 i) grows here isolated and amongst other trees, and disappears farther 

 inland. The same remark applies to a Cerbera, to all appearance the same as 

 that in the Carolines and Mariannes (7 | 8 c), the foliage of which, in this spring 

 time, just begins to come out. Highly characteristic of these littoral plains is a 



species of Ficus ^11 with a very straight stem, somewhat resembling in 



habit the Italian poplar. This tree is generally overrun by different creepers, 

 amongst them one, the dark leafless ropes of which are hanging down from the 

 top. In its immediate vicinity grows a young specimen of a large-leaved 

 Laurus (12 | 13 k). Amongst the forest trees of first magnitude, the deter- 

 mination of which is out of my power, but the features of which are carefully 

 represented, are the following : — 



Fig. 6 | 7 b. — Bark full of rents, but rather tender, of dark brown colour 

 even in the youngest branches ; leaves pinnated, light green, forming pretty 

 boughs. 



Fig. 9 | 10 —. — Bark resembling that of the foregoing, but lighter in colour, 



and, on the whole, rather rougher ; leaves oblong, undivided, and darker than 

 those of the last mentioned. 



Fig. 5 ^. — Stem tall, but always slender ; bark smooth and tender, whitish 



yellow ; leaves of the same shape as those of the last, of a fresh green. 



Fig. 14 | 15 i. — Stem as that of the last; leaves pinnated, and light yellowish 

 green. The leaflets are generally pointed, and it is, on the whole, more the form 

 of the ash than that of the Mimosa, towards which the most of the trees of this 

 island incline. 



The underwood amongst these fine and numerous kinds of trees constitutes 

 the peculiar character of the vegetation. Amongst the tropical forms the beautiful 



