460 



GALAPAGOS ARCHIPELAGO. Oct. 1835. 



I will now offer a few general observations on the natural 

 history of these islands. I endeavoured to make as nearly a 

 perfect collection in every branch as time permitted. The 

 plants have not yet been examined^ but Professor Henslow^ 

 who has kindly undertaken the description of them^ informs 

 me that there are probably many new species^ and perhaps 

 even some new genera. They all have an extremely weedy 

 character^ and it would scarcely have been supposed^ that 

 they had grown at an inconsiderable elevation directly under 

 the equator. In the lower and sterile parts, the bush, which 

 from its minute brown leaves chiefly gives the leafless appear- 

 ance to the brushwood, is one of the Euphorbiacese. In the 

 same region an acacia and a cactus [Opmttia Galapageia^), 

 with large oval compressed articulations, springing from 

 a cylindrical stem, are in some parts common. These are 

 the only trees which in that part affbrd any shade. Near 

 the summits of the diff'erent islands, the vegetation has a 

 very different character ; ferns and coarse grasses are abund- 

 ant; and the commonest tree is one of the Compositse. 

 Tree-ferns are not present. One of the most singular cha- 

 racters of the Flora, considering the position of this archi- 

 pelago, is the absence of every member of the palm family. 

 Cocos Island, on the other hand, which is the nearest point 

 of land, takes its name from the great number of cocoa-nut 

 trees on it. From the presence of the Opuntias and some 

 other plants, the vegetation partakes more of the character 

 of that of America than of any other country. 



Of mammalia a large kind of mouse forms a well-marked 

 species. From its large thin ears, and other characters, it 

 approaches in form a section of the genus, which is con- 

 fined to the sterile regions of South America. There is 

 also a rat which Mr. Waterhouse believes is probably dis- 

 tinct from the English kind; but I cannot help suspecting 

 that it is only the same altered by the peculiar conditions 

 of its new country. 



* Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i,, p. 466. 



