222 



was suggested that there may be present in the soil a substance 

 or substances secreted by the hemlock roots and deleterious to 

 the germination and growth of hemlock seedlings. This, as 

 well as poor insolation, must be considered in attempting to ex- 

 plain why the seedlings fail to develop. 



M. A. Howe : Botanical observations made in Pownal, Vt. 



Dr. Howe reported his attendance at the annual summer field 

 meeting of the Vermont Botanical Club, which was held in Pownal, 

 the extreme southwestern township of Vermont. In this town 

 are the only known Vermont stations for Liriodcndron Tiilipifera, 

 Moms rubra. Aster sagittifoliiis , and several other species of in- 

 terest. 



C. B. Robinson : Plant studies on the northern coast of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Dr. Robinson had spent the first two or three weeks of August 

 at Seven Islands, on the northern coast of the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, about 325 miles below the city of Quebec. The coast to 

 the east of the bay of Seven Islands is a nearly level sandy plain, 

 but the western side, and the islands across the mouth, are formed 

 of steep crystalline rock, a kind of feldspar. A range of hills at- 

 taining 1,700 feet in height runs parallel with the coast about 

 ten miles inland. With the exception of a few plants like Sib- 

 baldiopsis tridentata, Enipctrmn nigrum, and Achillea Millefolium ^ 

 the rocks and the sand bore strikingly different floras. There 

 was a tendency in some cases for the species of the woods to in- 

 vade the sand, bringing there species like Linnaea auiericana, 

 Moneses uniflora, and Perajiiium ophioides. Three species of 

 Botrychinm grew in still more open places on the sand. The 

 flora, at best a scanty one, is particularly poor in trees. The 

 shores are lined by black spruce, and the white spruce is less 

 common. Beginning a short distance from the shore the sand 

 plain becomes a pine barren, with Pinus Banksiana as practically 

 the only tree. Two species of paper birch, the fir, larch, aspen, 

 and mountain maple are the only other real trees. It had been 

 hoped that the higher latitude would sufficiently compensate for 

 altitudes lower than those of the hills of Gaspe, and thus give 

 a flora comparable to that of the latter. A few such species 



