772 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 624. 



grated from the west or southwest through 

 New Brunswick, many species having their 

 northeastern limit in the province. A second 

 source lies in the introduction, chiefly from 

 Europe, of weeds in ballast, etc., and many 

 species thus added to the flora are very con- 

 spicuous and troublesome. But the main pur- 

 pose of the paper was to call attention to the 

 presence in northern Cape Breton of a third 

 element, namely, species that are believed not 

 to occur anywhere upon the peninsular portion 

 of the province, and in some cases not in New 

 Brunswick. Such cases are always open to 

 the suspicion of incomplete collection, but this 

 can hardly be held to explain the gap in the 

 distribution of the male fern, Dryopteris fiUx- 

 mas (L.) Schott., known from about twenty 

 localities in this region, although nowhere 

 abundant there, and not found otherwise east 

 of Vermont. Another conspicuous fern re- 

 ported from two rather widely separated dis- 

 tricts in northern Cape Breton is the holly 

 fern, Polystichum Lonchitis (L.) Eoth., and 

 no other stations are recorded east of Ontario. 

 A similar statement may be made about many 

 flowering plants, those referred to being Carex 

 abacta Bailey, Blephariglottis hlephariglottis 

 (Willd.) Eydb., Sanguisorha canadensis L., 

 Aster nemoralis Ait., not known from penin- 

 sular Nova Scotia, Drosera intermedia Hayne 

 and Solidago macrophylla Pursh, only so far 

 found there immediately east of the Strait of 

 Canso. 



It was attempted to correlate this with the 

 observations of Canadian geologists to the ef- 

 fect that the region in question had escaped 

 glaciation, the limit of the ice-sheet being not 

 far from Pictou. 



Specimens were also shown of several spe- 

 cies not hitherto recorded from the prov- 

 ince, among them Tetragonanthus defl&xus 

 (J. E. Smith) Kuntze, Sparganium fluctuans 

 (Morong) Robinson, Meihomia canadensis 

 (L.) Kuntze, Vicia hirsuia (L.) Koch, Falcata 

 comosa (L.) Kuntze, Choenorrhinum minus 

 (L.) Lange, and Triglochin palustris L. 



Account of a Collecting Trip to the Sierra 

 Mcestra of Cuha: Mr. Norman Taylor, 

 Before giving an account of the various 



trips made during the expedition, a descrip- 



tion was given of the Sevilla Estate, which is 

 a local name for the area visited. This is a 

 tract about forty miles long, having for its 

 southern limit the Caribbean Sea. Its north- 

 ern boundary is the ridge of the Sierra Maestra 

 range. At its eastern and lower end this 

 range is about 3,500 feet high, but rises in 

 altitude, and gradually approaches the coast 

 as it goes to the westward, reaching its cul- 

 minating point near El Turquino, a mountain 

 credited with an elevation of 8,400 feet. 

 There is no gradual descent from the ridge 

 of the Maestra to the sea, but numerous other 

 mountains intervene. This feature, together 

 with the river valleys, makes the country very 

 rugged and precipitous. 



The chief rivers, the Sevilla, Guama, Ba- 

 yamita and Peladeros, rise in the Msestra it- 

 self, while numerous others of uncertain local 

 names rise in the front ranges. All the rivers, 

 at this time of the year, flow under the ground 

 for the last two miles, so that it is easily pos- 

 sible to get across near the coast, but in the 

 rainy season they flow in the surface bed and 

 are quite impassable. 



The prevailing wind is the moisture-laden 

 northeast trade. On this account the rainfall 

 is abundant on the windward side of the 

 Maestra while the leeward side of the range is 

 dry and arid. The increasing altitude of the 

 mountains from east to west and the decrease 

 in the width of the strip of land lying between 

 them and the sea make the effect of this great 

 wind-shield still more marked as one travels 

 westward. Here at least two species of 

 Cereus^ and an Agave, together with many 

 other sub-xerophytic plants, were found. 



Among the interesting plants collected were 

 specimens of Pinus occidentalis. This pine 

 occurred on the mountains at elevations be- 

 tween 1,000 and 2,300 feet, and was plentiful 

 in many places. The great size and inaccessi- 

 bility of the trees of Ceiha pentandra that 

 were found in the mountains was cited as a 

 factor that must have some bearing on the 

 probable new world origin of the species. 



Discussion followed by Dr. Britton and Dr. 

 Howe, the former giving recent evidence col- 

 lected by him in Jamaica, pointing toward the 



