59 



In reclaiming the sands, Ammophila or beach grass has been 

 planted first, then bayberry, then Pinus rigida, the native pine of 

 the region. Sand-loving species have since become well-estab- 

 lished as an undergrowth, but the new growth shows no signs of 

 ever equaling the original. The same is true on Block Island, 

 where the original forest had become established while the island 

 was connected with the mainland. 



The sand flora is remarkable for the great areas closely covered 

 with Arctostapliylos Uva-Ursi ; this with Rubus hispidus and some 

 plants of Corema Conradii is the chief means of forming the 

 sand into turf. 



The species collected in Provincetown numbered 94, among 

 which Corema Conradii seems not to have been recorded from 

 that town since Thoreau's visit in 1849. 



The third paper was a note by Dr. A. P. Anderson on Pachyma 

 Cocos — the Tuckahoe or Indian Bread. A specimen was exhibited, 

 a mass about two feet long, made up of apparently annual sec- 

 tions indicating ten years' growth. Similar specimens have been 

 found in the South along roots of oak and other trees, usually 

 about two feet below the surface, obtained chiefly when clearing 

 land of old stumps. Undoubtedly a fungus growth, and prob- 

 ably a sclerotium, it has never been seen to produce spores. The 

 whole substance consists of a septated mycelium with abundance 

 of white pectose. A species probably the same occurs in Europe ; 

 another in China has been used there for many centuries in 

 medicine. Experiments by Dr. Anderson showed that portions 

 separated from the roots of the host-plant were alive in the soil 

 after a half year. Where the cortex of the Pachyma was removed 

 it was renewed. 



Rev. L. H. Lighthipe followed with a communication regard- 

 ing Mr. C. L. Pollard's new species of violet — Viola Angcllae. 

 He exhibited a water color drawing showing the spring and 

 summer forms of the plant. An excursion for its collection in 

 Orange Mountains was suggested. 



Edward S. Burgess, 



Secretary. 



