THE MOUNT DESERT REGIOK 



15 



the proximity of the ocean with its modifying effect on the 

 climate is apparently due this extension of southern species 

 far beyond their normal habitat. On the other hand, cold 

 currents produce conditions favorable to boreal species. The 

 effect of the ocean on temperature is perhaps best shown at 

 Sable Island."' "A study of the temperature will show that 

 there are no extremes of heat or cold on the island; that the 

 highest temperature during the past four years was 78° and 

 the lowest point reached by the thermometer during the same 

 period was 5° above zero. 1 " 



Sea Wall Bog with Western Mts. in distance 



I am prompted to quote the paragraph above for the reason 

 that the island has a great number of wet depressions found 

 where glacial action has been the dominating formative agent. 

 These range from the cedar swamps where the principal 

 tree is arbor vitae to the ones locally called "sunken heath," 

 "bottomless heath," etc., which are spring fed, and larch, 

 spruce and the like dominate, with some maples. Brush such 

 as Myrica gale and rank grasses begin in these. 



'•'Sable Island with a catalogue of its vascular plants,'' by Harold St. John, 

 Proe. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 36, i>. rv2, 1921. 



