414 * BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN MEMOIRS 



change in the flora. There would be then two phases in the Hfe of 

 our bogs. 



ist. The marl ponds in which Hme-loving plants predominated 

 and especially Chara and which are filled with and often surrounded 

 by beds of marl or "bog lime." 



2nd. Peat bogs which from the bottom up are composed of non- 

 alkine peat which in all their history have been inhabited by oxylo- 

 phytes. 



Between these two phases gradations of all degrees occur in the 

 peat bogs of western New York. The succession might, of course, 

 be in the other direction if the calciferous phase should become pre- 

 dominant over a previous carboniferous one. But such a case is 

 unknown in western New York. 



