652 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Oct., 



Pluchea campJiorata (L. ) D.C, Cenchrus tribuloides L., Euphor- 

 bia polygon ijolia L., Xanthium canadense Mill. This society may 

 be said to be dominated by Strophostyles helvola (L. ) Briiton, In 

 the standing water grows in hammocky places Spartina stricfa 

 (Ait. ) Koth. These hammocks catch the blowing sand and are 

 destined to become dune islands. Such a dune island in the midst 

 of a marsh was covered by Spartina patens (Ait.) Muhl., killed on 

 one side by the sand blast. 



Nearer Piermont, the physiography of the beach changes and 

 the marked feature of this region is the height of the dunes and 

 the absence of marshes and pools of water in the dune complex. 

 The sea beach here is flat and about one hundred feet wide. The 

 same zonal areas of lower and middle beach are present. The 

 upper beach facing the dunes is flat and covered by Salsola kali 

 L., Cakile edentula (Bigel) Hook and Xanthiwn canadense Mill. 

 The frontal dune is ten feet high, sloping on the windward or 

 land side. Upon it grow Ammophila arenaria (L ) Link., Cen- 

 chrvs tribuloides L., Sieglingia purpurea (Walt ) Kuntze. The 

 Myrica zone is absent in the hollows back of this dune. Its place 

 is taken by the social groups of Strophostyles helvola (L.) Britton 

 which forms dark-green mats. In the deeper hollows, Gerardia 

 maritima Raf. and Euphorbia polygonifolia L may be called char- 

 acter plants. The dune complex is undulating with rising hills of 

 sand, covered on the seaward side by Strophodyles and on the land- 

 ward slope are Solidago sempervirens L. and occasional clumj)s of 

 Myrica cerifera L., not dominant; GEnothera humifusa Nutt., 

 Baccharis halimifolia L. and Andropogon virginicus L. Across 

 the area controlled by these herbaceous plants, the barren wind- 

 swept zone is reached upon which no vegetation grows except the 

 marram grass, Ammophila arenaria (L. ) Link, an occasional red 

 cedar, and as rare plants, Phytolaca decandra L. and Euphorbia 

 polygonifolia L. Dead trees stand up out of the sand over this 

 zone, which is about six hundred feet wide. The high dunes 

 (40-50 feel) are reached by gradual ascent after crossing the area 

 devastated of its trees by the drifting in of the sand. These high 

 dunes are abrupt on the landward side, where they encroach on the 

 dense deciduous forest behind. This forest seems doomed to extinc- 

 tion, if the past history of these dunes is followed in the dead trees 

 of the wind-swept area. Not many years ago this forest was 



