199 



In ToRKEYA for June, 1906, it stated that on May 30 the 

 Torrey Club visited " a white cedar swamp near Merrick " (near 

 the south shore of the island), and found there among other 

 things Dryopteris simulata, VVoodwardia areolata and W. Vir- 

 ginica. In Rhodora for April, 1907, Mr. J. T. Nichols reported 

 " a good colony of the tree growing . . . between the stations of 

 Merrick and Bellmore, Nassau Co." (doubtless the place visited 

 by the Torrey Club), and regarded this as the westernmost known 

 station for it on the island, which it probably is, unless Torrey's 

 Rockaway station still exists. 



Following the clue given by Mr. Nichols, I went on July 3d, 

 last, to the place indicated, which is just 25 miles from Long 

 Island City by rail. The Chainaecyparis occurs for some dis- 

 tance (several hundred yards at least) north and south of the 

 railroad, along Baldwin Creek, a small stream two or three 

 miles in length. It is most abundant below the railroad, and 

 almost within a stone's throw of the salt marsh into which the 

 creek flows. Here there are some thousands of the trees in 

 question, ranging from about 3 to 10 inches in diameter and 30 

 to 40 feet in height, growing in the driest situation in which I 

 ever found this species, a condition which, however, is probably 

 not natural. For just above the railroad the creek is dammed 

 up to make one of the reservoirs of the Brooklyn water system, 

 and as shown by Veatch,* whenever a stream in the sandy 

 coastal plain of Long Island is thus obstructed a large amount 

 of water escapes through the porous sides of the pond. The 

 fact that no trees less than three inches in diameter were seen 

 would seem to indicate that no young ones have come up for 

 several years, perhaps ever since the reservoir was made. 



The only other trees noticed in this swamp were a few speci- 

 mens of Sassafras, one at least a foot in diameter and as tall as 



miles northeast of Roslyn, in the glaciated region ; but on a recent visit to the spot 

 indicated I could find no perceptible aggregation of houses, no Chamaecyparis, nor 

 even any swamp. Inquiry at a house near by elicited the information that the road 

 I was on was called the Cedar Swamp Road, but my informants did not know why, 

 and after walking along it for several miles I knew no more about it than before. 



* Professional Paper U. S. Geol. Surv. 44 : 62. 1906. " The effect of dams in 

 the brooks of Long Island is ... to very materially decrease the stream flow at the 

 points where dams are erected." 



