— 4— 



that a part was about right to get, and the rest unripe. Meanwhile 

 the inundatum had ripened, about two weeks or so later than in 

 other localities. It was the best I ever saw, spikes of two inches 

 in length being not uncommon. The then unknown species was 

 taller, with slender spikes, appressed scales, mostly green in col- 

 or, with longer and stouter sterile branches. I found on getting 

 home that it was identical with some alopecuroides I had from 

 Atsion, N. J. As the botanies do not seem properly to distinguish 

 this, I will give the result of my investigation, and of the locality, 

 that others may be on the "look" for it. 



Plum Island is a long sand-dune, or series of dunes ; "a whale 

 aground," Whittier calls it, about six miles in length, lacing the 

 ocean between the Merrimac and Ipswich rivers. Among these 

 dunes, especially at the south end, are depressions in which cran- 

 berries grow, and often various trees, as poplar, juniper, maple, 

 alder, etc. The dunes often migrate into these depressions, cov- 

 ing the trees till nothing but the tips of the branches protrude. In 

 such a depression among cranberries, I found the Lycopodium. 

 The most striking thing about it is the great number of spikes, 

 from three to seven, while inundatum has rarely but one. An- 

 other thing is that the sterile stems do not die in the winter, as 

 inundatum, but persist till the next summer, and the terminal 

 part becomes bulbous thickened and often proliferous after the 

 year's growth has ceased to sap it, especially in vigorous shoots. 

 The leaves are longer, less spreading, and more ciliate than is in- 

 undatum The fertile stems are (here) 6 to 8 inches high, the 

 scales less spreading than in inundatum, and fruit ripening later. 

 The most peculiar thing is, that the vigorous shoots have two 

 spikes or more that are about equal in size, and one to five more 

 or less abortive ones gradually decreasing in height and fertility 

 till the middle of the stem is reached. Those farthest removed 

 from the base are nothing but sterile stems or spikeless peduncles, 

 often showing a tendency to revert in depauperate forms, by being 

 variously divided at top and often the divisions bent down as if 

 trying to find the earth to root in. This is a migratory species. 

 The vigorous shoots are always on the outside of the patches, 

 traveling away from the center. The inner ones are always de- 

 pauperate, as if the first growth had exhausted the soil. The 

 patches are usually small and the plants of the center often have 

 sterile stems but 1-3 inches long not rooted at end, sending up 1-3 

 peduncles, but having little or no fruit, in fact, are about to die 



