■A,lXi. 



soil which they grew accustomed to and were unable to live upon the 

 true glacial till. 



Before the advent of man, the northern part of Long Island undoubt- 

 edly had a distinct forest growth ; the evergreens, hickories and chest- 

 nuts were probably abundant, some magnificent specimens of pines 

 are still found in isolated patches on the islands, the remnants of 

 probably a fine growth of these plants. When the trees were cut 

 down and the lands tilled the present flora, which is continuous with 

 that of New York and Connecticut and Massachusetts, became mani- 

 fest. There are no features common to this north side of the island 

 flora which is not reproduced in the southern parts of Connecticut 

 and New York, save in the absence of the rock-loving plants ; hence, 

 many of the ferns are absent, few of the rock lichens are found and 

 almost none of the boulder spring flowers. 



At the present time when the woods are undisturbed there are a 

 number of chestnuts, sassafras, wild cherry, swamp -maple, locusts, 

 cedars, hickory in places, a few tulip trees, some oaks, and in the 

 cleared grounds the (aspen) rapidly gains a foothold. 



In the woods the herbs are distinctly northern in their type and they 

 usually run over the ridge and have extended to the southern borders 

 of the island. 



Along the sandy shores of the north side, of the more western 

 portion of the island, the vegetation is identical with that on the 

 southern shores of Connecticut. 



There is abundant opportunity to study the sand beach flora on Long 

 Island. It is developed to a great extent and throughout the eastern 

 reaches of the island the vast sand dunes and wastes support a charac- 

 teristic number of plants. 



Some Statistical Notes on the Present Flora. 



It may be considered that the present cryptogamic flora of the 

 island is very imperfectly known. The w^orkers in this field have 

 not been many and the regions explored have been very restricted. 

 The establishing of the Biological Laboratory of the Brooklyn Insti- 

 tute at Cold Spring has given a start to the investigation of the crypto- 

 gamic flora which will probably yield many additions to the list. Of 

 the Myxomycetes, there are noted some twelve species. Lycogala 

 Epidendron and Stemofiitu fusca seem to be the most widely distrib- 

 uted plants of the group. About 391 Algae are here listed, of these 

 about 50 were desmids, 126 diatoms, and the remaining 215 members 

 of the various other algal groups. The comparative poverty of the 



