8 INTRODUCTION 



(b) The Coastal Plain 



11. The area comprising the coastal plain, includes all that 

 territory lying south of a line extending approximately from 

 Trenton, N. J., through Staten Island to Long Island. (See 

 map, pi. 2.) All of this region is geologically the most recent in 

 our area, having been the last to be laid down before the era of the 

 ice which directly affected, with exceptions already noted, only 

 the area mentioned in paragraphs 5-10. An exception to this 

 statement is Long Island, where we have the terminal moraine 

 abutting directly on the coastal plain for nearly the whole length 

 of the island, — a geologically unique feature in this country. 



12. Whether the region south of the moraine on Long Island is 

 mostly overlaid by overwash material from the glacier or whether 

 the sands and gravels of the "South Side" are the underlying 

 Tertiary formations may be matter of doubt. It would make an 

 interesting future study to determine the effect, if any, of the 

 distribution of these different sands and gravels on the distribu- 

 tion of the plants on the island. A study of this sort was found 

 to be too intensive for this work and the writer has usually con- 

 fined himself to a statement as to whether the species is found 

 north or south of the moraine. 



13. It is in New Jersey that the coastal plain exhibits its chief 

 interest to the botanist, for this is the region of the pine-barrens, 

 the peculiarly characteristic features of which have always at- 

 tracted the interest of botanists and zoologists. Indeed, the 

 region is so unusual that the ordinary traveler is at once struck 

 with the difference between these sandy plains and pine-tree vege- 

 tation, and the richer flora further north. The excellent flora* of 

 this region by Dr. Witmer Stone has renewed interest in this 

 botanically unique country. 



14. The true limits of the pine-barrens are perhaps for the first 

 time clearly drawn by Stone in this work, there having been 

 previously considerable difference of opinion as to how far south 

 in New Jersey the true pine-barren element extended. Formerly 

 the pine-barrens were supposed to consist of all the remainder of 

 the state south of their northern edge, but explorations of the 

 botanists of Philadelphia have resulted in a final delimitation of 



* Stone, W. The plants of southern New Jersey, with especial reference to the 

 flora of the pine-barrens. Ann. Rept. X. Jersey State Mus. ioio: 25-828. 1912. 



