354 
At Communipaw Ferry, the site of last year’s principal collec- 
tions, the Rail Road Company has been very busy during the sum- 
mer with improvements on the grounds lying near the track and 
within half a mile of the Ferry House, filling in some two or three 
feet above the former grade, and thus exterminating several species 
that had obtained a firm foothold there; among them Lepidium 
Draba and Neslia paniculata, which I have not found elsewhere. A 
number of species collected there in October, as stated below, are 
evidently from the recent filling. On an abandoned wharf near the 
Ferry, where last year’s ballast lay undisturbed, some thirty foreign 
species were found. In the list given below none of the species 
reported last year are repeated; all of them, however, were found in 
the same localities, except Lepidium Draba, Rapistrum, Neslia, Por- 
tulaca, Gossypium, Coronilla, Arachis, Sida, Epilobium, Hypo- 
chaeris, Cichorium, Verbascum, Tencrium, Ervum, Flaveria and Lep- 
tochloa; and of these, Rapistrum, Sida, Epilobium and Hypochaeris 
have been found at one or more of the other stations; the others 
that were reported “abundant” last year are equally so this year at 
the same places, and their continuance is probable unless extermi- 
nated by “ improvements.” 
At Hunter’s Point, the spot where Flaveria Contrayerba grew 
abundantly last year, and, in fact, nearly the whole enclosure, was 
afterwards covered with new ballast. The Flaveria was destroyed, 
but from the new deposit has sprung a large number of the species 
found at the other stations. Most of the plants in the list, it will be 
observed, have been found at several of the different grounds ; but 
at each station a few have been found not observed elsewhere. En- 
glish and Norwegian vessels have brought the great bulk of all the 
ballast, but not from England or Norway chiefly. These vessels are 
largely carriers from other countries, and enquiry usually elicited no 
information as to the actual origin of the ballast so certain as that 
derived from the plants themselves. The species found are mainly 
natives of Britain, Germany and the Mediterranean region; a few 
belong to the West Indies and to Central and South America, and 
one to the Cape of Good Hope. 
Neither the slopes of the filled-in streets, nor the dumping 
grounds now in use in this vicinity can afford any permanent lodg- 
ment to many of these waifs from abroad, nor are the localities such 
as to offer many of the plants an easy escape to congenial soil. 
While most of them will therefore perish after a few seasons, suffi- 
cient opportunity will nevertheless be afforded to some, not hith- 
erto reported here, to test their endurance of our climate and to 
compete with our native growths. The less hardy plants will be 
ejected by our vigorous weeds ; but Atriplex rosea, A. laciniata and 
Diplotaxis tenuifolia, and doubtless others, will maintain their ground. 
In the annexed list, Hunter’s Point is indicated by “H. Pt.,’” Com- 
munipaw by “Com.,” Gowanus by “ Gow.,” Eighth Avenue by “ 8th 
Ave.,” and Hoboken by “ Hob.” 
The species marked by an asterisk (*) are not in the BULLETIN 
Catalogue; those printed in italics, though previously found more or 
_less elsewhere, are not in Gray’s Manual; and those in capitals have 
