62 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
SWAMPS OF THE BERMUDAS. 
The writer has recently had the opportunity of visiting 
an undrained peat swamp and also a mangrove swamp on 
the Bermuda Islands and a brief note regarding them may 
be of interest. 
The Devonshire marsh is a large area which gives evidence 
that it was once a pond, or, at least, contained much more 
water than it does at present. It is only a marsh land now 
with a few pools in the depressions. Two species of Sphag- 
num were found in these pools, also the mermaid weed, 
(Proserpinaca palustris) and Lemna minor. The water 
hyacinth and the cat-tail were abundantly represented in 
the wettest places, while rooted in the mud were Hydro- 
cotyle Asiatica, Herpestis Moniera, Mentha viridis and 
Dichromena leuocephala. An immense West Indian fern, 
Acrostichum aureum, here reaches a hight of seven or 
eight feet. As the ground becomes a little drier, Osmunda 
regalis and O. cinnamomea become abundant, the latter 
especially so. In still drier, peaty soil, Pteris aquilina 
caudata is growing vigorously and becomes much taller 
than one’s head. The Bermuda cedar (Juniperus Bermu- 
diana), the Palmetto (Sabal Blackburniana) and the dog- 
bush (Baccharis heterophylla), are the most prominent 
woody forms. (Plates 21 and 22.) In the driest and 
most exposed places, the ground is covered with Cla- 
donia and Leucobryum. The resemblance to our own 
drier Sphagnum swamps is apparent. Sphagnum, royal 
and cinnamon ferns, cat-tails, brake-fern, reindeer lichen 
and Leucobryum are all characteristic. The tamaracks or 
spruces are replaced by the cedar, our local shrubs by 
those of Bermuda. 
A second type is shown by the mangrove swamp at 
Hungry Bay. (Plates 23 and 24.) This swamp is con- 
nected with the ocean and there is a tidal fluctuation of 
two or three feet. The lower depressions over an area of 
