8 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [oct. 23, 
STATED MEETING. 
October 23d, 1893. 
Pror. Jas. F. Kemp in the Chair and thirteen persons present. 
The following paper was read : 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE GEOLOGY AND BOTANY 
OF MARTHA’S VINEYARD. 
By Artruur Houck. 
PART Ia. 
In a recent communication* I expressed regret at not having 
had an opportunity to visit Martha’s Vineyard. Previous ob- 
servations on Staten Island and Long Island had led me to infer 
that certain conditions which exist on these two islands must 
also prevail on Martha’s Vineyard. Subsequent explorations 
on Long Island confirmed my ideas and emphasized the neces- 
sity for a personal knowledge of the facts. Through the liber- 
ality of the Trustees of Columbia College, a trip with this end 
in view was made to Martha’s Vineyard during the early part 
of last July, and the observations then made form the basis of 
this paper. 
As is well known, Martha’s Vineyard is merely part of the 
fringe of morainal hills which extend from the mainland of 
northern New Jersey through Staten Island, Long Island and 
the islands to the eastward, reappearing on the mainland again in 
Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. 
The inroads of the sea, combined with the gradual depression 
of the coast, has resulted in a submergence of portions of this 
fringe, leaving the higher parts in the form of islands, one of 
which is Martha’s Vineyard. 
The only essential difference of opinion in regard to the geo- 
logical history of this island, on the part of recent observers, is, 
apparently, whether it has been subjected to mountain building 
forces, by reason of which it has been subjected to distortion 
and raised disproportionately above the surrounding levels of 
the sea bottom, or whether it may be accounted for upon the 
same hypothesis by which we may account for the formation 
*‘*Plant Distribution as a Factor in the Interpretation of Geological Phe- 
nomena, with Special Reference to Long Island and Vicinity.’”’ (Trans. N. Y. 
Acad, Sci. XIL. (1893) 189-202). 
