1893.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 191 



PART I. 



The pbeuomeua coiinectetl with the distribution of our living 

 floras and faunas have always interested and frecjuently puzzled, 

 those who have tried to understand the meaning of many of the 

 facts involved. The subject has been discussed by Gray, "Wal- 

 lace, Darwin, and other noted scientists, besides a number of 

 other observers in all parts of the world, but the importance 

 of the subject as a factor in the interpretation of geological 

 phenomena has not received the attention which it deserves. 

 The object of this contribution may, therefore, be considered 

 as an effort to demonstrate, in regard to the region here dis- 

 cussed, how the facts connected with the distribution of its flora 

 may be of aid in the solution of some of the problems connected 

 with its geology, and ultimately, perhaps, to lead to similar ob- 

 servations and comparisons elsewhere. 



The fact that certain geological formations su})port character- 

 istic living floras, as readily to be recognized and differentiated 

 as are the fossil floras contained in their rocts, has long been 

 known and commented upon. That is to say, certain plants are 

 recognized as being invariably associated with areas of certain , 

 geological formations. Such a condition prevails upon Staten 

 Island, as noted by me some years since*, where the flora grow- 

 ing upon the cretaceous and that growing upon the drift are so 

 remarkably distinct that the fact could not fail to attract atten- 

 tion. Similar facts were also noted by Dr. N. L. Britton in New 

 Jerseyf, and by others in more widely separated locali- 

 ties|, and the few references here given will indicate, in a 

 general way, the scope of such observations in the United 

 States, in case it may be desired to learn moi-e from them in 

 regard to what has been done along this line of investigation. 



Probably one of the best recognized and most characteristic 

 of our eastern North American floras is the one generally 

 known as the Pine Barren flora, which is such a prominent feature 

 throughout the eastern and southern parts of New Jersey and 

 southward. The northward extension of this flora through 

 Staten Island and Long Island was made the subject of a paper 



♦"Relations between Geological Formations and the Distribution of 

 Plants." (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club. vii. 14. 15). 



t Preface to " A Preliminary Catalogue of the Flora of New Jersey." 'Geol. 

 Surv. N. J., 1881). 



t"The Geological Distribution of North American Forest.s." Thos. J. 

 Howell. (Pop. Sci. Mouth, xxiii. 517-5-24. 



"The Relation of the Flora to the Geological Formation in Lincoln County. 

 Kentucky." H.A.Evans. (Bot. Gaz. xiv. 3l0-:il4 . etc. 



