18 The Ottawa Naturalist. [April 



'path which, in June when the marsh-marigolds are out, winds 

 like a brook of gold among the dark fir-trees and larches festooned 

 fantastically with grey-green Spanish moss. Through their 

 interlaced branches and fine network of needles the sunlight 

 threads itself iridescentlv and incrusts the dew-wet grasses 

 with jewels. Here are found the delicate white flowers of the 

 Gold-thread, Coptis trifolia (L) Salisb., the Star Flower, Trientalis 

 americana (Pers.) Pursh., the Smilacinas, 5. trifolia and 5. stellata 

 (L) Desf., the wild Lily-of-the-Valley, Maianthemum canadense 

 Desf., the sweet white Violet, Viola blanda Willd., the Wood 

 Anemone, A. quinquefolia L. and the finely formed little blossoms 

 of Mitella nuda. The flowers of the true Mitrewort, Mitella 

 diphylla were nearly over when we were there, only an occasional 

 one was left at the top of the stalk, but the lower mitres were 

 bursting with seeds, looking like bits of jet in chalices of jade. 

 The False Mitrewort, Tiarella cordifolia L. was still in bloom, in 

 groups under the trees being much more representative of its 

 other name "Foam Flower." Beside these, lay the greenish 

 flowers of the Clintonias and the Comus canadensis, relieved by 

 the shell-pink bells of the Linnaea borealis. Just at this point 

 in the path, on a former visit ten days earlier (24th May), I was 

 fortunate enough to find one of the chef d'oeuvres of nature 

 that incomparable little orchid Calypso bulbosa (L.) Oakes. 

 Like the goddess of silence whose name it bears, it makes its 

 home in quiet secluded spots most unexpected places. I found 

 it quite by accident. As we were then approaching the swamp 

 proper and sinking to the tops of our rubber boots, to gain a 

 firmer footing I pulled aside a cedar bough and so brought to 

 view the little Calypso in a bed of moss, among a tangled mass 

 of boughs and broken branches. Its tapering amethystine 

 sepals and petals outspread, its waxen pouch and transparent 

 overleaf marked with madder and hung from a slender scape, 

 its solitary green leaf springing from a second small corm, its 

 very delicacy in its rough surroundings make it easily recog- 

 nisable and quite unforgettable. 



We proceeded for some distance between this narrow avenue 

 of towering firs silhouetted against the blue sky like cathedral 

 spires, till we came to open spaces in the swamp itself. Nothing 

 could be more beautiful than these natural parterres of brilliant 

 coloured flowers encircled by the sombre conebearers. Thou- 

 sands of crimsoned Sarracenias in the centre and all around 

 massed against the sheltering trees were the soft white clusters 

 of Labrador Tea, Ledum groenlandicum Oeder. and Buckbean, 

 Menyanthes trifoliata L. whose white velvety flowers against the 

 bright satin of their leaves deserve a worthier name; this plant 

 is no less interesting in the autumn when we find its many round 



