38 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
the island, and does not seem to the writer to be a native plant. Ru- 
vicx Acctosclla is obviously an introduced species. 
Observations in 1851' confirm that the white clover is an introduced 
species here: "In the neighlxturliood of the chief residence, where white 
clover and other grasses have been sown, so luxuriant is the yield that 
over 100 tons of hay are made annually." 
Why Dr. Dwight called Lafhynis maritimus and the ThaUctrum 
weeds, is not made clear, and the writer cannot imagine any explan- 
ation of it. They are both characteristic of and generally distributed 
on the dry sand dunes, which are surely a habitat on which native 
plants would be expected. 
Dr. Dwight mentions in his paper by generic or specific names 
twenty-seven plants. The remaining thirteen are presumably im- 
mature and at that time almost indeterminable specimens. The 
plants are all in the Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden, 
but no list of them was kept. 
Dwight's admirable scholarly report contains as well as his data 
and remarks upon the Ipswich Sparrow, chapters on various features 
of Sable Island: the History of Sable Island, its Physical Aspect, its 
Climate, its Flora, its resident Mammals, and Birds. 
The first botanist to visit Sable Island was the Botanist of the 
Canadian Geological SurAey, John Macoun, who landed on the island 
July 20, 1899, and remained there for five weeks. In his Report for 
that year' he gives a general account of the island and some mention 
of its flora. On the mooted question whether the island was ever 
wooded he brings some evidence. " I am inclined^ to believe that 
trees have never grown upon the island. On one occasion I saw roots 
protruding from under a sand-hill over thirty feet high, and on dig- 
ging them out found that they represented part of the remains of a 
specimen of Jtmipcrvs Sabina jnocumhens (creeping juniper). It was 
rooted in a layer of black soil and when taken out showed that it had 
lain flat on the ground. Two of the roots, including the bark, meas- 
ured 3^ and 3^ inches in diameter respectively, while the crown, 
where the branches began to spread was over seventeen inches in cir- 
cumference or nearly six inches in diameter. This growth and others 
observed under sand-hills indicate long periods of vegetation without 
encroachment of sand, so that when these shrubs lived, the lagoon was 
1 The Leisure Hour, xxx. 432 (1881). 
2 Ann. Rep. Can. Geol. Surv. xii. n. s. 212-219 A (1899). 
3 Macoun, I. c, 217 A. 
