1002.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 649 



Soon about such objects the sand begins to form a dune, which 

 grows larger and higher as the seasons pass until it is covered by 

 the marram grass which binds it. A new washway may be made 

 around this newly formed dune and the drift of previous years 

 may be uncovered. The writer believes that if a trench were dug 

 for a mile or two along the beach and paralleling the ocean, a dis- 

 tinct stratum of rubbish would be revealed, if the excavation was 

 made deep enough to reach the level above the ground water. 



The presence of so much wood undergoing decay accounts for 

 the growth of the fungi found by the writer growing in the 

 pure (?) sand of the dune complex. Astneus stellatus is common. 

 Thelephora terrestris Fr. is found growing about the stems of Hud- 

 sonia tomentosa Nutt. The puffball, Lxjcoperdon turneri E. and E., 

 was found associated with these, while Clitocybe trullisata Ellis, 

 found with largely developed base and small pileus, indicates, 

 according to Prof. Peck who identified it, something unusual in the 

 conditions of growth. Fuligo (^^thalium) septica Gmel., a myxo- 

 mycete, is found commonly attached to decaying driftwood. 



Several new plants were found in 1902 growing in close con- 

 tiguity with the objects drifted in through the oceanic spillways. 

 Artemisia stelleriana Bess., reported previously from eastern Mas- 

 sachusetts and Sandy Hook, was found. Ramex acetosella L. and 

 Helianthus sp. were also collected in such situations. Only one 

 conclusion can be drawn from their presence, namely, that their 

 seeds were washed ashore with the rubbish mentioned. 



The thicket formation on the strand a mile below the Island 

 Beach Life Saving Station perceptibly narrows its width. At the 

 Island Beach Life Saving Station it forms a broad band of vegeta- 

 tion, but below this point it is nowhere over a hundred yards wide 

 and is confined to the more sheltered bay side of Barnegat pen- 

 insula. Between the thicket formation and the narrow forest, 

 the dune complex forms the dominant feature of the landscape, 

 except where a slue or thoroughfare enters the beach from the bay 

 side. At one place the strand is so narrow where this slue extends, 

 that during heavy storms in winter the ocean and bay meet, cutting 

 the strand into islands more or less separated from each other. 

 Scirpus lacmtris L is the character plant along the edge of this 

 slue, and where the slue becomes a marsh this plant forms pure 

 societies. Where the ground becomes firmer, social groups of 



