128 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



"The excursion of Saturday [Sept. 6, 1884] to the Pine 

 Barrens was, barring- the heat, thoroughly enjoyable * * >!« 

 When the coach which was devoted to the botanists was left on 

 the side track at Eg^g" Harbor [City] the view that greeted their 

 eyes was a level, sandy plain, with low vegetation interspersed 

 with shrubs and trees here and there. It was determined to 

 make a sally eastward first. In spite of the fact that the ther- 

 mometer had passed above the nineties, the whole party of fifty, 

 including ladies and Britishers, wandered out for a mile or so 

 amid a vegetation remarkably rich in showy and interesting 

 flowers and botanical rarities. But the heat would not permit 

 much loitering, and they soon returned with red faces, but arms 

 full of treasures. After a short rest all but a few summoned 

 up fortitude to start out again, going westward for a full mile 

 along the railroad track. This gave a different flora. But the 

 zeal of the excursionists, which was emulating the temperature, 

 reached its highest point when the cry ran all along the line that 

 the Schicara was found. There was a succession of disappearing 

 forms down the railroad em'bankmient into^ the thicket, where all, 

 great and small, went down on hands and knees to gather 

 the precious little ferns of such un fern-like aspect. But it is 

 impossible to tell all that happened. A bounteous lunch was 

 sei'ved upon the return, after which Mr. I. C. Martindale called 

 the botanists to order. Prof. W. J. Beal presided. Dr. Gray 

 gave some reminiscences of his early visits to this region. 

 He thought it was in 1832 that, in company with Dr. Torrey, 

 he first saw the Pine Barrens at Toms River and had found the 

 Schizcea. The following year he spent a week at Quaker's 

 Bridge, and had not been in the Pine Barrens since till the 

 present occasion. Mr. William Carruthers, of the British 

 Museum, spoke pleasantly of the enjoyment which the day had 

 afforded him, and his surprise to see a region soi apparently 

 barren supporting" such a varied vegetation, particularly at this 

 season of the year. He was only able to recognize Pteris and 

 Osnmnda regalis as plants he had previously seen in a living 

 state."* 



* Bot. Gazette IX. 1884, p. 161. 



