142 



tion to be much like the cypress ponds farther south, having more 

 trees and perhaps more water in them than the typical savannas 

 of eastern North Carolina and tropical America. 



A "bay"* may be defined roughly as a two-storied forest 

 growing in permanently saturated soil, with a large proportion 

 of evergreens in the lower story, which is usually denser than the 

 upper. Dr. Coker notes the resemblance of his bays to the 

 pocosins of eastern North Carolina, and divides them into two 

 classes, differing considerably in vegetation; namely, flatwoods, 

 or stagnant bays, and "alluvial" or drained bays. His applica- 

 tion of the term alluvial is somewhat at variance with ordinary 

 usage, and his "alluvial bays" are very similar to some of the 

 non-alluvial swamps of the coastal plain of Georgia and Florida. 



The absence of mudd}^ (alluvial) swamps characteristic of large 

 fluctuating streams is commented upon. The creek-swamps are 

 much like those of the Altamaha Grit region of Georgia. The 

 "lakes" and ponds are all artificial, and therefore have little 

 geographical significance, but the plants growing in them are 

 nearly all indigenous somewhere in the coastal plain, if not in that 

 immediate vicinity. 



The list of 52 "native trees" includes some large shrubs like 

 Alnus, Sassafras, Prunus angustifolia, Cyrilla and Kalmia, and 

 some doubtfully indigenous species like Populus deltoides, 

 Juglans nigra, Celtis Smallii, Morus, Sassafras, Platanus, Prunus 

 serotina, P. angustifolia, Gleditsia, Diospyros and Catalpa; but 

 at the same time the author shows a commendable conservatism 

 in relegating to the list of cultivated trees Juniperus, Fagus,\ 

 Quercus laurifolia, Ulmus alata, Prunus caroliniana, and Chio- 

 nanthus, which are believed to be native not many miles away. 

 In the list of native trees just one fourth of the species (six 

 conifers and seven angiosperms) are evergreen; and the pro- 

 portion would be somewhat larger if the doubtful species above 



* The use of bay as a term in plant sociology seems to be strictly confined to the 

 coastal plain, like hammock and -pocosin. 



t It is very interesting to know that the beech is absent from the Hartsville 

 neighborhood, as it is from the Altamaha Grit region of Georgia, which has equally 

 sandy and sour soils. See Bull. Torrey Club 32: 147. 1905; Torreya 6: 199; Ann. 

 N. Y. Acad. Sci. 17: 106, 330. 1906. 



