388 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1894. 



elevatiou attained was the summit of High Knob, 2,010 feet above the 

 sea; the lowest was at Dingman's Ferry (350 feet), on the Delaware 

 River. The greater part of Porter and Delaware townships have 

 not only been long denuded of their original forests of oak, pine, and 

 hemlock, but have of late years been frequently swept with fire. 

 This fact, combined with the stony character of the soil, gives the 

 country a desolate appearance, and has, undoubtedly, brought about 

 marked changes in the character of its fauna and flora since the ad- 

 vent of the white mail. At the present time it is diflScult to find, for 

 hundreds of square miles so much as an acre of mature evergreen 

 timber that does not show the ravages of fire and axe. In some 

 places the presence of a watercourse or swamp has retarded these 

 influences and we find a strip of oaks, chestnuts, and pines of com- 

 paratively recent growth to relieve the monotony of vast stretches 

 of scrub oak and bushes. Both fauna and flora combine in an in- 

 teresting manner the features of the Alleghunian, Canadian, and 

 Carolinian life- regions. 



The following is a list, with annotations, of those species observed 

 by the writer or reported on by the gentlemen above mentioned: — 



1. Didelphys marsupialis virginiana (Kerr). Virgiuian Opossum. 



The rare occurrence of this Carolinian species in the fauna of the 

 Pocono plateau of Pike and Monroe counties, even up to an eleva- 

 tion of 1,500 feet is a fact of interest. Specimens have been taken 

 at Porter's Lake. At Dingman's Ferry they are less rare. 



2, Cariacus virginianus (Bodd.). Virginia Deer. 



A buck was killed at Schauff''s Pond the first week in October. 

 In spite of the immense range and the sparsely populated condition of 

 the country, the deer are becoming very scarce. Mr. Eilenberger 

 attributes this to the continual destruction of deer by the natives 

 throughout the year, and to the forest fires, which often overtake the 

 newly- born fawns, and in many ways so worry the older deer that 

 they leave the county. 



Last year the county newspaper at Milford published its annual 

 authenticated list of deer killed in Pike County during the game 

 season of 1893. They numbered 140. 



Mr. Eilenberger thinks a close season of three years and a law to 

 prevent the export of deer for sale would quickly and permanently 

 restock the Pocono wilderness with this noble animal. 



