98 



Doubtless there were formerly cedars in the swamps of Staten 

 Island, but these apparently have long since been obliterated. 

 The cedar has also been found on Plum Island — one of the hiatus- 

 like islands which are intercalated between the eastern end of 

 Long Island and the mainland, while in Connecticut their 

 abundance in the eastern and scarcity in the western part of 

 the state is obvious. 



The problem as to the origin or cause of this unique flora in 

 southeastern Connecticut and eastward is one of unusual interest. 

 So far as known there are no pronounced climatic dissimilarities 

 to which it can be attributed, neither is there at present any 

 evidence of topographic or soil conditions sufficiently diverse from 

 those in other parts of the state to afford an adequate explanation. 

 The most satisfactory solution seems to rest on the assumption 

 that in post-glacial time there has been a land bridge which 

 connected eastern Long Island with the adjacent mainland and 

 across which northbound coastal plants could readily pass with- 

 out entering western Connecticut. The probability that such a 

 formation once existed was urged by Holliqk in 1893^ as an 

 explanation for the occurrence of certain coastal plain plants 

 in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, and Fernald 

 has recently^ brought forward convincing botanical evidence in 

 the light of which it seems not improbable that for some time 

 after the recession of the glaciers a more or less continuous land 

 connection stretched northward as far as Newfoundland. In 

 view of the extended discussion of this hypothesis in these papers 

 no further comment is called for here. It must be admitted, 

 however, that the isolation in southeastern Connecticut of such 

 an appreciable colony of coastal plain plants, 75 per cent of 

 which are common both to Long Island and New Jersey, affords 

 strong confirmation of the views advanced by Hollick and 

 Fernald. It is especially difficult to conceive how the coast 

 white cedar could have migrated eastward through southwestern 



1 Plant distribution as a factor in the interpretation of geological phenomena, 

 with special reference to Long Island and vicinity, Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., 12: 

 189-202. 1893. 



2 A botanical expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador, Rhodora 13: 109-162. 

 1911. 



