304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1897. 



principal timber growths of the swamps are Cypress, Gum, Oak, 

 Swamp Maple and Birch, with some Dogwood, Elm and Ash. The 

 upland timber consists mainly of two species of short-leaved Pine 

 with abundant undergrowth of Holly, Ilex glabra, though in some 

 places are extensive tracts of Juniper. Along the Sound coast 

 Holly and Laurel grow abundantly, the shores of Currituck Sound 

 being also here and there dotted with Alders. One of the chief 

 woodland plants is Apios tuberosa, and the green briar makes itself 

 obnoxious wherever one may chance to wander. In marshy spots 

 and along the ditches which have been dug for draining the fields, 

 Cane, Arundinaria tecta, occurs abundantly, and in many places in 

 the woods is a soft carpet of Hypnum moss. In this moss were 

 found several mice and one or two shrews. A few of the trees in 

 the low woods and swamps were adorned with Spanish moss (Til- 

 landsia), but this is not common. The Yellow Jasmine was also 

 abundant and blooming. Along Currituck Sound are extensive 

 marshes covered with cat-tails and a thick dense Juncus (?) 2 to 3 

 feet high. A small patch of Juncus setaceus at Chapanoke contained 

 runways in which were taken two specimens of Synaptomys. But 

 little success in trapping was had at Chapanoke, small mammals 

 apparently being quite scarce." 



The region covered by Mr. Young's researches is of much faunal 

 interest, being the borderland of distribution between such distinc- 

 tively Carolinian forms as Peithrodontomys humilis, Peromyscus 

 aureolus and gossypinus and Sorex longirostris, and the wider rang- 

 ing northern species Peromyscus leucopus, Microtus pennsylvanicus 

 and Sorex personatus. The faunal and floral conditions on Albe- 

 marle Sound are further complicated by the presence of the Great 

 Dismal Swamp and its confluents, whose peculiar environment is a 

 strange combination of boreal and austral in a territory whose nor- 

 mal climate is decidedly austral. The proximity of this region to 

 the sea also has a decided effect in equalizing the relative tempera- 

 ture and average humidity of summer and winter as compared with 

 the interior uplands in this latitude. 



Dr. Merriam has recently described a Synaptomys, a Blarina and 

 a Sorex all taken by Dr. A. K. Fisher in Dismal Swamp, and, while 

 it is doubtful if all of these will prove specifically distinct from 

 their nearest northern or southern affines, there is undoubtedly a 

 most marked contrast between these swamp dwellers and their 

 nearby associates of the uplands. 



