CXXIX 



(J. M. Tracy, of Lynn, gave a brief account of some 

 points in the botany of the peninsula. A remarkable fact 

 appears in the almost total absence of all heath -like plants 

 from this place. It is said there are a few huckleberry 

 bushes here; but not a pyrola, laurel, lambkill, blueberry, 

 swamp-pink, or any such thing could he ever find. On 

 the contrary, the field chickweed, a most lovely plant for 

 the lawn, grows here abundantly, though rare or wanting 

 in all the region round. Formerly, it is said, Nahant had 

 heavy forests ; but the settlers destroyed them, and since 

 then a tree can scarcely be made to endure the climate. 

 Persevering care has, however, partly retrieved the error, 

 and the place is growing far greener than for years before. 



F. W. Putnam, of Salem, gave some description of the 

 zoological specimens taken during the day. 



Wm. J. Beals, of Union Springs, N. Y., said he had 

 been born and brought up in a country where there were no 

 rocks, no ocean, no evergreen trees, and he had heard of 

 these things in his childhood, as the inventions in a pleas- 

 ant story. A few years ago, he had made a pilgrimage to 

 New England that he might see these things ; and he had 

 set himself down by the sea for half a day at a time, full 

 of delight as a child. You who live in the midst of these 

 things have no idea of their true beauty. He gave a 

 description of the curious plant called the sundew, which 

 traps insects by the adhesive drops on its leaves. 



Caleb Cooke, late of Zanzibar, East Africa, excused 

 himself from speaking on account of feeble health. He 

 had enjoyed the day and its rambles, and at another time 

 would be glad to speak. 



Abner H. Davis and Emery S. Johnson, of Salem, were 

 elected Resident Members. John da Costa Soares, of 

 Mozambique, E. C. A.; George C. Huntington, of Kelley's 

 18 



