r 



F 



lOT 



stirred the leaves of the tallest trees. So gloomy, cold and wet 

 was every part that not even the fungi, mosses or ferns could 

 flourish." In another place, when describing the vegetation of 

 ( the Chonos Archipelago, he says: "' Cryptogamic plants here 



find a most congenial climate. In the neighborhood of the Strait 

 of Magellan, I have before remarked that the country appears 

 too cold and wet to allow of their arriving at perfection." 



It was a pleasant surprise for me, after reading the above 

 description, to find a wealth of cryptogamic plants on the shores 



of Fortescue Bay, which is only a short distance from M 



Tarn. 



/^ 



'Stop 



(Hymenophyllufn) 



growth of mosses, liverworts and lichens. There also I found a 

 third species of Berberis {B, ilicifolid), with spiny holly-like 

 leaves and clusters of orange-colored flowers. The two species 

 of Ptrnettya, the E^nhothnum, Empetrum, and the shrubby com- 

 posite, which I had before collected, occurred, associated with a 

 number of other shrubs and small trees, which I have not yet 

 been able to determine. 



At Port Tamar the vegetation was luxuriant. There, beneath 

 a dense canopy formed by the flat-topped beeches, shielded alike 

 from the snow and the sun, growing in a damp spongy soil, and 

 surrounded by an atmosphere laden with moisture, grew a num- 

 ber of plants of exquisite delicacy. Filmy ferns crept up the 

 mossy trunks of the trees, mingled with the beautiful scarlet flow- 



Mit 



ifoli 



flowers of a delicate rose color. Many other plants were common 

 which I had not seen before, and T collected, besides three species 



Hymenophyll 



cimtamomea 



fern with a brittle glossy stem bearing a horizontally expanding 

 umbrella of radiating fronds not unHke our Adiantum pedatam m 

 its manner of growth {A. radiatum, L.) Extending above the 

 flat tops of the beeches I saw half way up the mountain's side a 

 conspicuous yellow plant. In order to get it I was obliged to walk 

 nearly half a mile literally on the tops of the trees, as it was im- 

 possible to advance In any other way. The plant proved to be 



