ST. JOHN: SABLE ISLAND. 25 



inant eroding factor on the surface of the island, so that it is quite 

 possible that the whole island is, under the compulsion of these west- 

 erly winds, slowly creeping eastward along the summit of the Sable 

 Island Bank. 



In any case, the island is rapidly wasting away. Three hundred 

 years from now Sable Island, in all probability, will have vanished, 

 and then there will be no lighthouse to warn the mariners of those 

 times from the treacherous bars on the summit of the Sable Island 

 Bank. The study of its fauna and flora will then be ancient history, 

 only to be pursued by consulting the few specimens in the larger mus- 

 eums and herbaria. 



THE ENDEMIC FRESH-WATER SPONGE. 



An endemic species of fresh-water sponge, Heteromeyenia macouni 

 Mac Kay 1 has been described from Sable Island. " This sponge was 

 collected in considerable abundance on the 18th of August, 1899, by 

 Professor John Macoun, Botanist of the Geological Survey of Canada, 

 in the fresh water pond found in the center of that great sand-shoal 

 in the Atlantic Ocean, well known as Sable Island, nearly one hun- 

 dred miles from Nova Scotia, the nearest part of the continent. It 

 was growing around the submerged portion of the slender stems of 

 Myriophyllum tenellum, Bigelow, in green, compact, lobular masses, 

 showing, where broken, numerous orange yellow gemmules. 



"It appears to approach most nearly to the following fresh water 

 sponges described by Potts : Heteromeyenia ryderi v. baleni, found from 

 Florida to New Jersey, in its spiculation; and Heteromeyenia ryderi v. 

 walshii, from Gilder Pond, Massachusetts, in the fasciculation of its 

 skeleton spicules." Gilder Pond is at 1,800 feet altitude on the side 

 of Mt. Everett, Mount Washington, Berkshire County, Massachu- 

 setts. 2 



IPSWICH SPARROW. 



The Ipswich Sparrow, first discovered in 1868 by C. J. Maynard 

 among the sand dunes at Ipswich, has constantly been a source of 

 interest to ornithologists. Repeated observations along the Atlan- 

 tic seacoast proved it to be a regular migrant starting south from Nova 

 Scotia in September, stopping at the bleak wind-swept areas of sand 

 dunes on its journey to Maine, Virginia or sometimes to Georgia. 



*Mac Kay, A. H.: Fresh Water Sponge from Sable Island. Trans. 

 N. S. Inst. Sci. x. 319-322 (1900). 



2 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 231 (1887). 



