194 
I reject, as merely fanciful, the theory that Bermuda area of 
land and shoal has ever had land connection, either with the 
continent or with the West Indies. 
An analysis of the native flora excluding the thallophytes, 
indicates that the transportation of all its species may reasonably 
be referred to one or the other of three methods. 
1. All the halophytic (salt-loving) species, and those with 
ruits which can retain vitality in . water have floated 
to Bermuda. These number 41. the marine algae 
have come in the same way. 
2. Hurricane winds sweep all light objects in the course of the 
storm to great heights in the atmosphere, from which they 
slowly fall over very wide areas. To this transportation 
through the air may confidently be referred spores of all 
land cryptogams, and seeds and fruits of flowering plants 
appended so as to float readily in the air, such as those 
of some grasses and composites. In this category some 
83 species are to be included. 
migratory birds, carrying seeds and fruits swallowed by 
them for food, or mechanically attached to their bodies 
and thus transported in flight, are to be referred the 
function of bringing the smaller-seeded species of the 
native flora, other than those transported by water or 
wind. These number about 97. 
& 
4 
° 
N. L. Britton, 
Director-in-Chief. 
CONFERENCE NOTES. 
e November conference of the scientific staff and registered 
ae of the New York Botanical Garden was held in the 
laboratory on the afternoon of November 4, with Dr. Murrill 
presiding. 
Mr. F. D. Fromme gave a report of the studies which he made 
during the past summer under a scholarship granted by the New 
York Botanical Garden. In the collection and study of parasitic 
fungi particular attention was given to the rusts. Collections 
