38 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 



the island, and does not seem to the writer to be a native plant. Ru- 

 mex Acetosella is obviously an introduced species. 



Observations in 1851 1 confirm that the white clover is an introduced 

 species here: "In the neighbourhood of the chief residence, where white 

 clover and other grasses have been sown, so luxuriant is the yield that 

 over 100 tons of hay are made annually." 



Why Dr. Dwight called Lathyrus maritimus and the Thalictrum 

 weeds, is not made clear, and the writer cannot imagine any explan- 

 ation of it. They are both characteristic of and generally distributed 

 on the dry sand dunes, which are surely a habitat on which native 

 plants would be expected. 



Dr. Dwight mentions in his paper by generic or specific names 

 twenty-seven plants. The remaining thirteen are presumably im- 

 mature and at that time almost indeterminable specimens. The 

 plants are all in the Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden, 

 but no list of them was kept. 



Dwight's admirable scholarly report contains as well as his data 

 and remarks upon the Ipswich Sparrow, chapters on various features 

 of Sable Island: the History of Sable Island, its Physical Aspect, its 

 Climate, its Flora, its resident Mammals, and Birds. 



The first botanist to visit Sable Island was the Botanist of the 

 Canadian Geological Survey, John Macoun, who landed on the island 

 July 20, 1899, ancl remained there for five weeks. In his Report for 

 that year 2 he gives a general account of the island and some mention 

 of its flora. On the mooted question whether the island was ever 

 wooded he brings some evidence. "I am inclined 3 to believe that 

 trees have never grown upon the island. On one occasion I saw roots 

 protruding from under a sand-hill over thirty feet high, and on dig- 

 ging them out found that they represented part of the remains of a 

 specimen of Juniperus Sabina procumbens (creeping juniper). It was 

 rooted in a layer of black soil and when taken out showed that it had 

 lain flat on the ground. Two of the roots, including the bark, meas- 

 ured 3% and 3% inches in diameter respectively, while the crown, 

 where the branches began to spread was over seventeen inches in cir- 

 cumference or nearly six inches in diameter. This growth and others 

 observed under sand-hills indicate long periods of vegetation without 

 encroachment of sand, so that when these shrubs lived, the lagoon was 



1 The Leisure Hour, xxx. 432 (1881). 



2 Ann. Rep. Can. Geol. Surv. xii. n. s. 212-219 A (1899). 

 1 Macoun, I c., 217 A. 



