108 



The first number on the announced scientific programme con- 

 sisted of a paper on "Two Long Island Peat Bogs" by Dr. 

 Roland M. Harper. The speaker's abstract follows: 



"Two interesting peat bogs, of approximately the same size, 

 but about forty-five miles apart and differing considerably in 

 vegetation, were described, and photographs of them exhibited. 



"The first is Juniper Swamp, near Maspeth, Queens County. 

 It is in a thickly settled neighborhood, and the peat in it is said 

 to have been utilized to some extent in the first half of the 

 nineteenth century. The trees are Betiila populifolia and Acer 

 ruhrum, but most of them have been cut out from time to time, 

 presumably for fuel. The commonest shrub, or shrub-like plant, 

 making about half the total bulk of vegetation, is Decodon 

 ■verticillatus, which renews its aerial parts every year. Other 

 shrubs are mostly of the Ericales, including Chamaedaphne, 

 which is not known elsewhere within thirty or forty miles. The 

 commonest herb is Triadenum virginicum, and the occurrence 

 of Sagittaria Engelmanniana is noteworthy. There is not much 

 Sphagnum, and the peat affords a pretty firm footing. 



"The other bog is at the north end of Lake Ronkonkoma, and 

 is probably an old arm of the lake, cut off by a sand-bar. The 

 trees on it are Acer ruhrum and Nyssa, all rather small. Chamae- 

 daphne is by far the commonest shrub, and about 75 per cent of 

 the shrubs are of the Ericales. Herbs are numerous, especially 

 in the wetter portions, and this is one of the few known Long 

 Island localities for Gyrotheca tinctoria. Sphagnum is abundant 

 and the bog very spongy. 



"The differences in vegetation between these two bogs seem 

 to be correlated with differences in the chemical composition of 

 the water, which in turn depends largely on the soil of the sur- 

 rounding country, which is rich loam in the first case and mostly 

 sand in the other." 



The second paper "On Some Rocky Mountain Pentstemons" 

 was presented by Dr. Francis W. Pennell. The following ab- 

 stract was furnished by the speaker : 



" In the summer of 191 5 the speaker collected Scrophulariaceae 

 in the central Rocky Mountain States, studying the species 



