82 THE PLANT WORLD. 



moss or, if unable to find capsules, to ascertain something in regard 

 to its time of flowering. It seemed not impossible that it might fruit 

 early in the spring and lose its capsules when washed by the high 

 waters of the spring. I was not successful in my quest, and deter- 

 mined to search again in the early spring. The sandy summits of 

 these cliffs yielded a number of characteristic mosses. Patches of 

 Polytrichum piliferum, beautiful green cushions of Dicraniim scopa- 

 rium, pale green ones of Leiicobryuni vulgare, small turfs at the bases 

 of trees of Thelia Lesciirii, and loose tufts of TJmidiuvi micropJiylliim 

 Ravenellii. 



In the darker, lateral gorges, where the sun can hardly peep in, 

 where shelving rocks make spots suggesting rare things, the Sword- 

 moss is present in great abundance and a host of commoner things 

 also luxuriate, among them many well-known mosses. 



On returning the next spring to search again for the fruit of the 

 Sword-moss, I once more met failure. I succeeded in finding an abun- 

 dance of flowers as yet hardly_ mature, May 7, 1892, the antheridial 

 flowers seeming much more numerous relatively than the archegonial. 

 From my searches, therefore, I concluded that this moss fruits in the 

 early summer and then, rarely. Professor Cheney, as Mrs. Britton has 

 already related, succeeded in finding a fine lot of these capsules in 

 perfect condition, some years later. The date at which these were 

 found agrees well with the conclusion reached from the flowers found. 

 Although recorded only as being found at the Dells, the writer has col- 

 lected this moss from numerous similar situations in the range, called 

 the Baraboo bluffs, from fifteen to twenty miles distant. Although 

 failing to find the object of my search on the spring visit above men- 

 tioned, I was amply rewarded in another direction. The walls of 

 certain of these canons were found fairly monopolized by the beau- 

 tiful little Bird's-eye Primrose {Primula farinosa) with its rosette of 

 leaves pressed tightly against the moss carpet and its yellow-eyed 

 flowers greeting one before most of its neighbors had fairly awak- 

 ened. A glance into a spot where the sun shone into the gorge, dis- 

 covered a rarer, if not more beautiful sight. A cluster of violets in 

 full bloom in this cold place was a surprise, but to find here the Large- 

 spurred Violet {Viola Selkirkii) with its big inflated spur, was still 

 more remarkable. It is a rare plant in this part of the country, being 

 characteristically a northerner. Perhaps this violet, adapted to a cold 

 climate, had been more abundant in these parts in past times when 

 the subsiding glaciers still influenced the seasons and, finding in these 

 cold, damp canons a situation fitted to its nature, has persisted. 



At proper seasons of the year many other interesting things may 

 be found in the Dells. Rooted in crevices in the more exposed sand- 



