190 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
V. caespitosum, but it covers acres of ledgy slopes. Unlike the latter 
species, however, the mountain bilberry rarely grows at low altitudes. 
In Maine only three such stations are known,—a dry hillside in 
Farmington, a ledgy shore of the Carrabassett in Jerusalem (in the 
valley between Mt. Abraham and Mt. Bigelow), and Fort Kent on 
the upper St. John, where it is reported by Miss Furbish (see Ruo- 
DORA, i. 172). In New Hampshire it rarely descends to the valleys, 
as in Franconia Notch ; and in Vermont a single lowland station is 
recorded, on the bank of Lamoille river in the Green Mountains 
(Ruoponma, ii. 88). Thus, although of very general distribution on 
the mountain summits of New England, the mountain bilberry as a 
lowland species is very exceptional. 
In its broad range, Vaccinium uliginosum occurs throughout the 
circumpolar regions of the northern hemisphere, and it is one of the 
chief sources of food among northern races. It is very decidedly an 
arctic-alpine species, though not of such restricted distribution on our 
mountains as the arctic Diapensia, Cassiope, etc. Why this shrub, 
which abounds in polar regions, should thrive just above timber-line 
on so many of our mountains, while Vaccinium caespitosum, a low- - 
land species, which is unknown north of latitude 54?, clings, when it 
ascends the mountains, to the most exposed summits, is more easily 
asked than answered. That this seemingly anomalous condition 
exists there can be no doubt, but for its final explanation we must 
await further investigation. 
A REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT of SSfeironema lanceolatum. — A form 
of Sfeironema lanceolatum which was exhibited at Horticultural Hall last 
summer was the subject of much discussion. The plant was found in 
Holbrook, on the banks of a ditch, in a meadow. It has since been 
found in a second locality from the first, so that it cannot be regarded 
as an abnormal development. The plant is remarkable in that the 
stems trail along the ground /or a distance of five or six feet, rooting 
at intervals in the mud. In this it resembles the southern S. radi- 
cans, but specimens compared at the Gray Herbarium show it to have 
the foliage, inflorescence, and calyx of S. /anceolatum.— ALICE L. 
GRINNELL, Holbrook, Mass. 
