570 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



succession of trees according to alti- 

 tudes, with its strongly marked division 

 lines, is no longer seen. Specimens of fifty- 

 eight species of trees and shrubs have 

 been collected and placed in the National 

 ^luseum. Only ten species of mollusks, 

 one crustacean (the common crawfish), 

 probably a dozen fishes (the author iden- 

 tifies eight and mentions others), eight 

 batrachians, two snakes, and a turtle 

 have been found. Of mammals, thirty- 

 five species are described as known to 

 occur at the present time, and eight as 

 of doubtful occurrence now. 



Geology of Block Island. — In a 

 study of the geology and natural history 

 of lilock Island, of which Arthur Hol- 

 lick gives a summary in the Annals of 

 the New York Academy of Sciences, the 

 most important problem was whether 

 the Amboy claj' series was represented 

 in the island. Of fifteen species of fossil 

 leaves and fruit capable of identification, 

 represented by about twenty-five speci- 

 mens, at least nine were typical of the 

 Amboy flora. Observations on dip and 

 strike of strata tended to emphasize the 

 fact of contortion of glacial action, the 

 dip in all cases being toward the north, 

 indicating that the strata had been 

 pushed southward in a series of over- 

 thrust folds by the advancing ice front. 

 The flora may be divided physiographic- 

 ally into that of the hills, the peat bogs 

 and pond holes, the salt marshes, the 

 sand dunes, and the salt water. Trees 

 are rare, and such vegetation as is de- 

 pendent on forestal conditions is absent. 

 The bulk of the surface is that of a typ- 

 ical morainal region, with rounded hills 

 and corresponding depressions, many 

 of the depressions being occupied by 

 swamps or ponds, often without any vis- 

 ible outlet. Running streams are few 

 and insignificant, and permanent springs 

 occur only in a limited number of locali- 

 ties. The soil is bowlder till and gravel, 

 with sand in the dunes and beaches, and 

 there are no outcrops of rock. The flora 

 is morainal in its general character, ex- 

 cept in the peat bogs and on the limited 

 sand dunes and sea-beach areas, and has 

 its nearest analogue in that of Montauk 

 Point. " In fact, if we could imagine 

 Montauk Point to be despoiled of its few 

 remaining trees and converted into an 

 island it would bear a striking resem- 

 blance, geologically and botanically, to 



Block Island." Considering the geologi- 

 cal features of Long Island, Block Is- 

 land, Martha's Vineyard, and Nan- 

 tucket, and comparing their floras, we 

 find that all except Block Island have 

 some of the plain region remaining with 

 them, on which a characteristic flora 

 finds a home. Block Island has lost all 

 its plain region and accompanying flora, 

 and is now merely an isolated portion of 

 the terminal moraine, with small areas 

 of modern sand beach and dune forma- 

 tions, aflording a home only for such 

 species as can exist under such condi- 

 tions. The island appears to have been 

 extensively wooded before it was settled, 

 and large stumps, together with roots 

 and branches, are found in some of the 

 peat bogs. The scarcity of animal life 

 on the island is sure at once to attract 

 the attention of the observer from the 

 ma'nland. Tree-living birds are absent, 

 but robins, bank swallows, red-winged 

 blackbirds, and meadow larks occur with 

 some frequency. Among mollusks, the 

 periwinkle of the Old World, an impor- 

 tation or migration, is the most abun- 

 dant. Frogs and spotted turtles are 

 plentiful, and a few small striped snakes 

 were seen by Air. Hollick. The archaeol- 

 ogy of the island is being studied by per- 

 sons specially interested in the subject. 



The Claims of the High School. — 

 In considering the right of the public 

 high school to be a just charge upon the 

 public treasury, !Mr. Frank A. Hill, of 

 the Massachusetts State Board of Edu- 

 cation, finds that less than one fifth of 

 the school money raised in the State is 

 expended on account of these schools, 

 whereas if the number of pupils in each 

 of the thirteen grades of school was 

 e(jual and the money was evenly divided, 

 the higher grades would be entitled to 

 four thirteenths, or nearly one third of 

 it. To an objection sometimes raised 

 against the high-school system that the 

 "toiling millions" will have no use for 

 more than the teaching of the elemen- 

 tary grades, Mr. Hill asks. Who has a 

 right to decide whether one child shall 

 have a greater or less amount of instruc- 

 tion than another? " And so freedom of 

 choice, when the question of what one's 

 life work shall be comes up, is a basic 

 thing in government by the people. 

 Upon the wisdom of this choice turns 

 the welfare of each unit in the State, and 



