FAUNA OF PENIKESE ISLAND. 



21 



"The original vegetation, like that of neighboring islands, 

 is said by Jordan to have been of a forest type, with pitch pine 

 red cedar, red maple, shagbark, shadbush, poplar birch, horn- 

 beam, and two or three species of sumac. In 1873 there was 'no 

 trace left save the rotten roots of a solitary beech stump and a 

 few branches of red cedar and red maple (?) found buried in the 

 muck of a small swamp.' Cutting of the original timber had 

 been followed by the introduction of sheep, which remained on 

 the island until about 1910. From 1905 to 1921 Penikese was 

 used by the State of Massachusetts as the site of a leprosarium. 

 After the removal of the lepers in 1921 the island has been un- 

 inhabited except for the caretaker and his wife. 



Pond 2-D. (See footnote to p. 27.) 



"Jordan says that his 'list may have a special interest to future 

 students, and also a general interest to botanists, as showing 

 which plants survive a prolonged struggle for existence against 

 grass and sheep.' If the State retains possession of Penikese 

 and estabHshes a bird sanctuary there, the continued history of 

 the development and succession of plants and animals cannot 

 fail to be of interest and importance. Surveys at stated intervals 

 will give precise information about natural succession under the 

 prevailing climatic and edaphic conditions, and will furnish 

 data on the means of dispersal of species in this region." ^ 



A physical feature of little interest to the botanists but offering 



1 Lewis, I. F., "The Flora of Penikese, Fifty Years After," Rhodora, Vol. 26, 

 No. 310, pp. 182-4, October, 1924. 



