152 



in New England by the ice sheets, and covered almost com- 

 pletely with this lichen. 



The botanical party, some of the members of which had ex- 

 amined the north side of the Island last year, tried the south 

 side this time. They followed the woods along the west side of 

 Tobacco Lot Pond, rousing the angry cries of ospreys nesting 

 in the trees. A blooming plant of Habenaria psycodes was an 

 interesting find. A planted area of Catalpa has done well with 

 the trees uniformly large and well grown. Toward the south 

 end, the moraine hills are open, with short grass, and a good 

 deal of the Golden Aster, Chrysopsis. The shallow borders of 

 Tobacco Lot Pond contain some extraordinarily tall Cat-tails, 

 Typha latifolia. The ospreys for which the island is famous, 

 were more numerous than ever, nesting everywhere in trees, 

 and on boulders along the shores or in the water. One member 

 offered an observation which was new to this writer, that 

 ospreys were early discoverers of the principle of stream-lining, 

 now the rage in automobiles and railroad trains. He asked us to 

 note then when an osprey dived, caught a fish and rose to carry 

 it to its nest, it always held the fish head first, so that it would 

 give the least resistance. And so they did. 



One really does not have time to do justice to the flora of 

 Gardiner's Island, in the five hours we had ashore. The woody, 

 swampy areas are probably rich in slime moulds, for one thing, 

 as Robert Hagelstein found in his first visit there last year. The 

 general flora is about like that of eastern Long Island. The oaks, 

 maples and sourgums in the woods on the south end of the 

 island, are fine specimens, but not quite as large and impressive 

 as those at the north end, which we saw last year. To get the 

 most out of a short visit, the north side, with the big oaks, and 

 the colored clay cliffs, is most interesting, and the terminal sand 

 spit at the northern extremity, with its scattered red cedars, 

 looks worth intensive study on another expedition. 



Raymond H. Torre y 



Catskills Trip, September 12-14 



About a dozen members of. the club greatly enjoyed the 

 week end trip under the direction of Mrs. Inez Haring, of Wood- 

 land, Ulster County, Sept. 12-14 in the southeastern Catskills. 



