Vegetation of NortJicni Cape Breton. 453 



tation and upon the permeability of the peat and of the sub- 

 stratum [A raised hog (high-moor)] often arises on 



top of old low-moor ; it may also take origin on wet sand, and 

 even on rocks if these be sufficiently wet." Incidentally, it is 

 worthy of note that although he accepted the then current con- 

 ception as to the origin of raised bogs, Ganong was puzzled by, 

 and commented at some length on, the "presence of much stand- 

 ing water near the surface on the higher parts" of the New 

 Brunswick bogs which he studied ('98, p. 148). 



In this connection, it is also of interest that Ganong ('98, p. 

 151) describes as occurring on the slopes of one of these bogs "a 

 series of remarkable holes .... of various sizes, from 30 by 12 

 feet down to a few inches. They are a foot or two deep, have 

 perfectly level bottoms of black muck, sometimes so dry as to 

 crack in the sun, in others moist, in others covered with water, 

 the latter being at the lower, the former at higher levels." 

 Obviously these are the ponds or pond holes which have been 

 discussed at some length by the author. In northern Cape 

 Breton also, the water in many of them disappears during a dry 

 season, but many of them are several feet deep and apparently 

 always contain water. The ponds on the higher parts of a bog 

 are usually more or less circular in outline (Fig. 69) and 

 ordinarily have steep banks all around. They may be relatively 

 few in number, but commonly there are several or many to the 

 acre. In many of them, save for various algae, vegetation is 

 sparse and any filling in is accomplished through the gradual 

 encroachment of the banks. In others there is a luxuriant 

 growth of aquatic sphagnums {S. Pylaisei, S. cuspidatum). As 

 regards the growth of these aquatic sphagnums, the discrepancy 

 between different ponds is hard to account for, unless, as is very 

 likely the case, it be correlated with the abundance of algae (see 

 next paragraph). With the exception of Nymphaea and 

 Eriocanlon, aquatic seed plants are usually scarce. In general, 

 the ecological relations of the vegetation here approximate what 

 has been described earlier (see: association-complexes of 

 undrained ponds, p. 417; also, development of raised bogs in 

 and around water-filled rock basins, p. 438). 



Weber, in his paper on the vegetation and origin of the 

 Augstumal Hochmoor in Prussia ('02, pp. 76-78), has made some 

 important observations regarding the origin of these ponds 



