21 
else such leaves as were blown in from a 
distance during more recent years. Iam 
inclined to think that the latter is the case 
and that a large part of the mud was also 
due to zeolian action, as it is finer than 
water-transported material and is quite 
different from the largely organic sedi- 
ment of other shallower depressions. 
The ordinary bog silt is much darker in 
color and always contains the roots of 
living and dead vegetation to a greater or 
less extent. 
the process of denudation by ceolian action 
is perfectly obvious on the hills, and it 
may be readily appreciated that in the 
lapse of thirty or forty years the amount 
of dust blown into a pond in such a loca- 
tion would be considerable. 
The surface soil on the hills is similar to 
that of deforested portions of the moraine 
elsewhere in the vicinity. All the humus 
and forest loam which formed the surface 
soil when the region was wooded has been 
washed or blown into the hollows, along 
with much of the finer inorganic soil, 
leaving the present surface rough and 
gravelly, in which red Triassic sandstone 
and shale are particularly conspicuous 
elements, The Fowlders are all of com- 
paratively small size and in fair abundance, 
a large majority of them being diabase, 
evidently derived from New Jersey, and a 
cousiderable nuniber of quartzose limon- 
ite, from the nearby serpentine ridge of 
the Island. The scarcity of limestone 
bowlders and other erratics from distant 
areas is perhaps worth noting, as well as 
the total absence of Cretaceous or Ter- 
tiary material, although the hills of the 
morainal front, not more than a mile fur- 
ther south, contain a conspicuous amount 
of gravel and clay of Cretaceous and Ter- 
tiary age and numerous limestone 
bowlders. 
It would seem as if the first advance of 
the ice, carrying with it the rock frag- 
ments from the more distant regions, had 
also eroded and shoved ahead the limited 
Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits of the 
Island, leaving these to form the frontal 
range of hills near the Fingerboard road, 
Sand lane and Richmond avenue, and 
During dry, windy weather 
that in the subsequent recession the ice 
deposited its load over the previously 
eroded area and formed the hills now 
under consideration. In all the cuts thus 
far made through these hills nothing but 
bowlder till and gravel has been found. 
As might he expected the surface drain- 
age is more or less complicated, but 
it all finally finds an outlet into the water 
course which flows to the north and east 
and finally discharges near the old Staple- 
ton landing. A well defined water shed 
may be observed just in the rear of the 
club house, where several small pond 
holes occupy the summit of a ridge. 
Part of the water which accumulates in 
these flows into a water course which dis- 
charges near the old Clifton landing and 
part flows into the Stapleton water course. 
A very slight cut or fill would easily 
divert the water at this point in either 
direction. 
% * x # * * * 
The vegetation of the ponds and swamps 
presents no features of special interest 
and it is probably about the same now as 
it was yearsago. I wascurious, however, 
to learn what kind of vegetation would 
appear after the old pond bottoms had 
been drained, plowed, harrowed and 
rolled The aquatic vegetation (Ponte- 
deria, Sagiitarta, &c.) was entirely oblit- 
erated, as were also the several species of 
Carex and Scirpus which were formerly 
abundant. In place of these, and prac- 
tically to the exclusion of everything else, 
there appeared a rank growth of Panicum 
Crus-gali LL. and P. proliferum Lam. 
which grasses, with constant mowing, 
now form a coarse carpet-like covering, 
the long stems spreading out laterally aud 
lying flat on the surface. 
On the higher ground, wherever the sur- 
face has been denuded or where subsoil 
has been spread, Panicum proliferum, P. 
sanguinale I, and P. glabrum Gaud. seem 
to he the only species which have been 
able to take hold in the sterile soil. 
On the dry hill tops a peculiar vegeta- 
tion, adapted to the changed conditions, 
has taken possession. The former forest 
vegetation has entirely disappeared and 
