RECONNOISSANCE OP' THE KLIZAHKI'H ISLANDS .'^93 



short hoary pubescence. More extended examination may 

 prove it to be worthy of varietal rank. 



The island is composed of a series of rounded morainal hills, 

 with a maximum elevation of 1 60 feet. Many of the depressions 

 are amphitheater-like in form, in some of which there are swamps 

 or ponds, often without visible outlets. One of these is occupied 

 by West End Lake, a body of clear fresh water, some 45 acres 

 in area, the surface of which is usually about 5 feet above tide 

 level, while the bottom is said to be about 75 feet below. At 

 the time of my visit a considerable stream was flowing from it, 

 although this was stated to be not always the case and due to 

 the unusually wet season and recent heavy rains. In its gen- 

 eral features it is strikingly like Lake Ronkonkoma on Long 

 Island and is evidently caused by similar morainal conditions. 

 Its limited drainage area would, alone, be insufficient to account 

 for the almost uniform level maintained by the water, but the 

 depth of the basin, and its nearness to tide water at once sug- 

 gests that seepage may account for it, augmented at time of rains 

 by surface drainage, when it overflows. If the depth quoted is 

 correct, the bottom is lower than that of any portion of Buzzard's 

 Bay adjacent. 



In several localities, notably in the vicinity of Tarpaulin Cove, 

 the accumulation of bowlders is especially conspicuous, both for 

 numbers and size, and they may be seen to advantage either 

 where they are completely exposed on the shore [Plate IX] or 

 partially so in the adjacent hills, interspersed with patches of 

 stunted Myrica cerifcra L. [Plates X, XI]. " Fern Rock" is 

 an immense bowlder, partly fractured and covered by a luxuriant 

 growth o( Polypodiinn vulgare L., situated in a dense wood not 

 far from West End Lake. 



The general topography of the island is characteristically 

 morainal and the larger part of the bowlders are granitic. 

 Around the more sheltered north shore and in the coves and 

 inlets, away from violent wave action, the beach shingle largely 

 retains its original angular character as glacial drift material and 

 there is but little observable difference between it and material 

 freshly washed out from the adjoining sloping banks, from the 

 Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., XIII, Jan. 14, 1901 — 26. 



