1901] Churchill,— A Botanical Excursion to Mt. Katahdin. 159 
return of the rest of the party was by the Slide again, but on leaving 
the summit we kept together along the edge of the Basin, partly to 
watch the Pomola delegation. 
Now we all knew that somewhere near the summit “ on wet rocks ”’ 
there had been collected by Scribner in 1873 Saxifraga stellaris, var. 
comosa. Sotheeyes of both sections were now particularly engaged 
in discovering the hiding places of the little stranger, whose only 
station in the Eastern United States was near where we then were. 
And to Williams is due the credit of first finding her, and of tearing 
her ruthlessly from her damp bed under the dark rocks. Being thus 
advised, however, the others soon found victims in similar unwhole- 
some retreats and though the supply was limited, our Club and 
private herbaria at least will have a satisfactory representation of the 
rarity. 
The daily rain now began to fall and the summit and Pomola were 
as invisible as they were to Thoreau, but we had done with them and 
were ready to return to shelter after a most satisfactory day. 
Friday, July 13, we followed two guides and a trail through the 
woods and over the intervening spur, into the North Basin. We 
found after struggling through the “‘pucker-brush " which formed an 
almost impassible barrier before it, or across the great opening to the 
East, that it was a most interesting place. The altitude of its floor 
was about 500 feet higher than that of the other Basin; and there 
were no trees except in the depressions, where as usual the scrub 
made progress difficult. It was a great open amphitheatre, bounded, 
except on the East, by a series of perpendicular almost inaccessible 
cliffs which rose to the summit plateau. These cliffs were more 
regular, and not so high nor so utterly desolate and suggestive of the 
action of violent forces, as those which towered over our little camp 
in the South Basin. From their base the ground sloped quite gradu- 
ally and uniformly to the narrow lake, perhaps a third of a mile long, 
which extended partly across the great eastern opening. To travel 
about and to pass across this little sheet of water was very difficult on 
account of the rocks and the jungle of low spruces and dwarf birches 
and alders which surrounded it. Beyond, the floor was carpeted 
with Cornus Canadensis, the common alpine Vacciniums and Wil- 
lows, and with spreading mats of the Alpine Bearberry heavily laden 
with fruit. Comandra livida was not uncommon, but it did not 
emulate the example of its prolific neighbor, and as usual confined 
itself to a very meager production of flowers and fruit. 
