FIELD TRIPS OF THE CLUB 
Trip OF SUNDAY, JULY 19 
The trip of July 19 afforded the 34 participants an oppor- 
tunity to observe the chief features of the vegetation of Sandy 
Hook. This region, within such easy reach of New York City, 
presents a sample of largely unaltered ‘‘beach” vegetation, with 
the unusual spectacle of a maple-holly forest. The party first 
made observations on the vegetation of the Navesink High- 
lands, finding oaks and hickories to be the dominant trees, with 
a number of interesting introduced trees and shrubs. 
After devoting an hour to lunch, the party gathered at the 
entrance to Sandy Hook, where they were admitted through the 
courtesy of the Commanding officer of Fort Hancock. By calling 
into use all available cars, the party was carried several miles up 
the Hook to headquarters, where an officer was provided to con- 
duct them through the reservation. This arrangement proved 
to have double value, for it not only enabled the members to €x- 
plore certain forbidden regions, but also made possible a closeup 
view of such non-botanical exhibits as disappearing guns, am- 
munition stacks, and other features of the coast defenses. It was 
pointed out that the lighthouse, now si 
south-east of the tip of the Hook, 
over a hundred years ago. 
Among the plant communities 
established dune of the low type W 
coast. Here were seen the red cedar, black cherry, beach plum, 
bayberry, and several species of Rhus, which dominate such 
areas, together with Hudsonia tomentosa, Lechea marituma and 
Opuntia vulgaris. When one enterprising bot 
discovery of a couple of belated flowers of this cactus, 4 scramble 
ensued, for all wished to see the large yellow double flowers of 
our eastern prickly-pear. In spite of the leader s op ig a ve 
investigators got first-hand knowledge of the tiny glocnids 
which abound on the joints of the opuntia—another form of 
“coast defenses.” . ‘sida which con 
After glancing at the little grouP of Pinus rigida which coi- 
stitute the only pines On the peninsula, the party examined the 
remarkable community in which red maple and holly are domi- 
151 
visited by the party was an 
hich is typical of the Jersey 
