Stewart—Botanical Conditions ,on the Galapagos Islands. 325 
condition is local, however, as the most of the soil on the lower 
parts is composed of disintegrated lava with small boulders and 
bits of lava intermixed. There are also lava ridges in this vicin¬ 
ity without soil. 
The slope is very gradual to 700 ft. and in places the country 
is slightly terraced. Above this elevation the ascent is quite 
steep to 1,000 ft. beyond which there is a broad valley, three or 
four miles wide, extending in to the base of the craters on the 
west side of the island. There is a heavier growth of vegetation 
here than on the north side of the island, probably due largely 
to the fact that there is more soil. 
About the only vegetation on the beach, where we landed, was 
a sparse growth of Sporobolus virginicus, but back of the beach 
around the base and on the sides of the cliffs there were bushes 
of Cryptocarpus pyriformis, Discaria pauciflora, and Maytenus 
obovata. Grassy areas occur back of the shore, where the soil is 
composed of ashes, which at the time of our visit were covered 
with a heavy growth of Aristida subspicata. There is probably 
quite a growth of annual plants in addition to the above, during 
the rainy season, as the remains of quite a number of these were 
found. Patches of bushes occur in the grassy areas which are 
made up of such species as Acacia macracantha, Clerodendron 
molle, Cordia lutea, Croton Scouleri var. brevifolius, Gossypium 
barbadense, and Waltheria reticulata forma intermedia. Low 
trees of Bursera graveolens and Piscidia Erythrina occur among 
the bushes. A few specimens of Opuntia grov T in the vicinity of 
the shore but whether or not these are O. myriacantha or the un¬ 
described species from the north side of the island, was not de¬ 
termined, as no specimens were collected. They are more abun¬ 
dant farther inland. 
The character of the vegetation changes but little to an eleva¬ 
tion of 300 ft. except that the grassy areas soon stop and the 
country is covered with Bursera forests very similar to those on 
the low r er parts of other islands. Trees of Erythrina velutina 
also occur here in considerable number. Cissampelos Pareira 
appears first at about 300 ft. elevation, but it becomes more 
abundant higher up where it often covers trees and bushes. A 
few of the more xerophytic species of ferns appear around an ele¬ 
vation of 400 ft. We experienced much difficulty with the 
thickets of Furcraea cubensis at an elevation of 450 ft. and 
above, as they often cover areas of several acres in extent in this 
