14 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



dried and bleached. Rockweed {Ascofhyllum nodosum (L.)), torn 

 from its anchorage on some distant shore, is daily cast on the beach, 

 but like some of the shells found there, of West Indian species, its appear- 

 ance is quite accidental. There is one more plant that is worthy of 

 mention, the Sandwort, as represented hy Arenarta peploidcs L. and A. 

 grcenlandica (Retz). It covers the dry bars, and among its shiny leaves, 

 only a few inches high when I left, the Terns are fond of placing their nests. 

 As for the "golden-rod, asters, and blue lilies" that are said to bloom 

 later in the season, I failed to obtain any specimens. Some of the grasses 

 are cut for hay, but it did not look as if the crop could be a very heavy one. 

 Potatoes and a few other vegetables are raised, but successful farming in such 

 sandy soil is out of the question, even if the summers were not so cold. I 

 make no pretence to a complete enumeration of the plants of Sable Island, 

 for reasons given, but those that I have mentioned are among the most 

 conspicuous and characteristic of its flora, which resembles in many respects 

 that of the adjacent mainland. 



Mammals. 



It is not within the scope of the present paper to enter into a discussion of 

 the whole fauna' of the island, and I therefore pass at once to some of the 

 higher groups. Of the mammals there is little to be said, for the once 

 abundant Walrus (^Odohcvnus rosmartts (Linn.)) has long since been 

 exterminated, and, with the exception of a couple of species of Seals, there 

 are no mammals of any sort found there today, save those artificially 

 introduced by man. Great numbers of the Harbor Seal {Phoca vitn- 

 lina L.) are resident. They were in large herds or smaller groups, 

 basking along the beach or disporting in the lake. At the time of my 

 visit many of the new-born j'oung were seen, and could be easily cap- 

 tured. Sometimes the}' were found straying inland, where they perished 

 from hunger or from the dogs that delighted to worry them. When a 

 herd was approached the old Seals would flounder down the beach 

 into the water, leaving behind them a few of the mottled young either 

 sound asleep or making no etTort to escape. No great fear was shown 

 by the adults, but they all evinced great curiosity, and they would follow 

 me for considerable distances, swimming along with wide-opened eyes, 



' Dr. Gilpin's pamplilet (1S5S) is tlie only treatise ever published that has atlempted a sketch of the 

 fauna and flora of Sable Island. To it is appended a list of thirty-eight species of mollusca by J. Willis. 



