west across the divide between the two bays, and is a most 

 beautiful and attractive spot, the delight alike of the ornithologist 

 and the botanist. 



A striking element in the flora here is the number of arbores- 

 cent forms which are to be found on account of the interming- 

 ling of northern and southern forest types. Among them are 

 the chestnut, sycamore, tulip-tree, willow oak, chestnut oak, red 

 and black oaks, walnut, hickory, gum, persimmon, sumac, dog- 

 wood, sassafras, etc. These include a large number of forms 

 noted for the beauty of their autumnal coloration, which en- 

 hances a visit to this region during the latter part of the year. 

 Among the noteworthy herbaceous plants at the time of my visit 

 were the spiranthes {Gyrostachys), the showy rhexias, or meadow- 

 beauties, with their reddish-purple blossoms, and the equally 

 showy bidens, or marigolds. 



The sands and clays of the Cretaceous formation which mark 



rupted belt from Martha's Vineyard and Block Island to Ala- , 

 bama, cross the canal diagonally. To prevent land-slips the cut 

 was made very wide, often two hundred feet or more. Subse- 

 quent erosion has sculptured these high banks into characteristic 



which fringes the top of the banks, one might well imagine him- 



a black lignitic clay, replaced in a short distance by a great bank 

 of white " sugary " sand containing amber. Here we find the 

 greenish marly sand of the Matawan formation, while orange 

 iron-stained sands vie with reddish sands in their prominence — 

 the whole forming a variegated and beautiful picture. Large 

 logs of lignite lie in the ditches where they have weathered out 

 of the banks. 



The fossil plants occur in lenses of dark sandy clay, which is 

 rather loosely consolidated, and the leaf-impressions commonly 

 carry much lignite, so that they shrink in drying and do not fur- 

 nish very permanent specimens. The locality along the canal 

 which has yielded the plant-remains is in the State of Delaware a 

 few miles east of the Maryland line, between Pivot and High 



