136 
I returned to Miami on April 10, and after caring for the col- 
lections proceeded to New York by rail, accompanied by Mrs, 
Britton. 
From this hasty glance at the Bahaman flora and from a gen- 
eral knowledge of previous collections made in this field, I now 
strongly recommend that at the first ot we me Seerad a 
botanical survey of the Bahaman archipelago. northern 
islands and many of the smaller keys are sitteally, ao 
while many of the others have simply been touched upon by 
botanists ; the plants are known to be very unevenly distributed, 
some species being apparently restricted in distribution to a single 
island or key and it is certain that many species unknown to sci- 
ence await discovery. 
Our collection of land plants during the whole trip is repre- 
sented by 645 field numbers and include about 500 species illus- 
trated by some 2,000 specimens for the herbarium, museum 
and conservatories. The report of Dr. Howe, to be bse in 
the Journal for August, describes his work on the 
Respectfully submitted, 
N. L. Britton, 
Director-in- Chief. 
EFFECTS OF THE PAST WINTER ON SHRUBS. 
Well is it for the lovers of shrubs that a winter so severe as 
that just past rarely visits this region. Not only here, but to 
the north and west of New York City, and even south, come 
complaints of the winter-killing of many shrubs which hitherto 
have enjoyed immunity from damage by the cold. The weather 
conditions which resulted in so much injury in the Garden will 
be discussed below. 
he large number of shrubs in the fruticetum collection affords 
an excellent opportunity fora study of the comparative hardiness 
of different species when subjected to the same conditions. An 
element enters into the problem here, one which must be borne 
in mind to some extent, and it is that the shrubs in this collection 
