the route leads back again along the carriage road to Ipswich, 
circling large salt marshes and running through the out¬ 
skirts of the town. 
On arriving at the railroad station, lists are again carefully 
gone over for the final checking up, and the trip is considered 
at an end when the train for home is boarded at about six p. m. 
The general direction of the river from Howe to the sea is 
northeast, and the distance as the crow flies about thirteen 
miles. It is a safe estimate that the bed of the river covers 
more than double that distance. The height of the river at 
Howe is less than sixty feet above sea level. The main channel 
of the stream above Lamsons averages about thirty feet in 
width, and the depth is good except during midsummer. In 
May the water is usually high “flowing out“ the marshes, and 
allowing free navigation over wide areas. 
The valley of the Ipswich is for the most part rugged New 
England land, but there are many farms along the river, and 
every type of country is found from open swamps to thick 
woods. Hardwoods predominate, but evergreens are nearly 
always in evidence, and there are several fine groves of 
pines. 
Since the formation of the club, the regular meeting next 
after the date of the trip has been set aside for a final dis¬ 
cussion of all records made. It will therefore be seen that 
the lists as published herewith have been carefully revised, 
and are believed to be accurate. During the whole trip there 
is no attempt made to hold the party together except at The 
Pines, at lunch on Sunday, and at the end of the trip in Ipswich. 
It is therefore probable that the larger numbers of species 
recorded in the later years is due to the greater number of 
observers and to their being spread more generally along the 
route. In the earlier years, the party numbered only.about 
a dozen with four or five canoes, now the canoes number up¬ 
wards of a dozen, with thirty or more observers. 
The weather during the trips and the lateness or earliness 
of each season has of course somewhat controlled the number 
of species recorded and their abundance, but the writer feels 
that these influences have not been great, possibly because 
during no year has the weather been unfavorable on both 
17 
