93 



new species, and notes on selected species found on the Cape. 

 None of the papers cited describe the vegetation of the Cape, 

 except in very general or indefinite terms or for very small areas, 

 or attempt to indicate what proportion of the total is made up bv 

 any one species. For example, it is difficult to ascertain from 

 existing literature whether the commonest tree, Pinus rigida, oc- 

 curs only as scattered individuals or in large forests like the pine- 

 barrens of Long Island and New Jersey. 



Before discussing the plants of the Cape it will be well to sketch 

 their environment briefly. Cape Cod is a low but not flat pen- 

 insula, underlaid at least in part by Pleistocene strata and covered 

 with glacial boulders, gravel, dune sand, marsh muck, etc., with a 

 somewhat "oceanic" climate on account of being nearly sur- 

 rounded by the Atlantic Ocean. It is remarkably similar to Long 

 Island in soil, topography, vegetation, and various other features, 

 a fact which seems to be seldom mentioned, perhaps because very 

 few geographers have explored both areas. If one wished to go 

 into such details, it could be divided into about five subdivisions or 

 minor regions.* Near the mainland, on the so-called " upper 

 Cape," hills, granite boulders, deciduous forests, orchards, and 

 pastures are common, and the country does not look very different 

 from some places far in the interior of IMassachusetts ; but toward 

 the extremity it becomes more and more sandy and devoid of 

 rocks, trees, and farms, and the last several miles near Province- 

 town are all dune formation. 



Thoreau and other writers of his time describe the Cape as 



nearly destitute of trees, but there is considerable forest now, for 



two or three reasons. First, there are now railroads to bring coal 



from Pennsylvania, so that the inhabitants do not have to depend 



on wood to keep them from freezing in winter. Second, the rural- 



population and the amount of farm land has diminished, as nearly 



everywhere in New England and near-l:)y states, allowing forests 



to take possession of many abandoned fields.j Third, the process 



• * For a geographical sketch of the Cape, with bibliography, see A. P. Brig- 

 ham, Geog. Review lo : 1-22. "July" [Sept.], 1920. 



t See Journal of Forestry (Washington) 18: 442-452. (May) 1918. 



