30 THE PLANT WORLD 



piiiuae, which cannot twist into a horizontal position, a chance to get as 

 much light from above as possible. A form of Nephr. spimdosum and 

 one little clump of iV. Boottii grow here. Strange to say, the sweet fern, 

 Dicksonia, seems to be at home in these low, damp woods, although it 

 is usually seen with us on dry hillsides in rather poor soil. 



The marsh shield-fern, N. Thelypteris, is found in the woods, but on 

 account of the shade is sterile. Near the pond it gets more light and 

 fruits heavily. With it grows in large patches its near relative, N. dmu- 

 latum, a fern so nearly intermediate between it and the New York shield- 

 fern that we could not decide on a name when it was first seen in 1894. 

 What a surprise it was, mingled with some regret, when Mr. Davenport 

 published it as a new species two months later. 



In the stream which flows swiftly over a gravel bed we see innu- 

 merable caddis-worms in their cases, made of bits of sticks and tiny 

 stones. Here and there are plants of wild-celery ( Vallisneria) much 

 smaller than those growing in the vast reaches of shallow, brackish 

 water along the bay, where they form the chief food of the canvas-back 

 duck. 



If we visit these woods in May, or early in June, we -vvill not fail to 

 gather a bunch of fragrant swamp magnolias, M. glauca, to take home 

 with us. 



BOTANIZING IN WINTER. 



By C. F. Saunders. 



WHEN the cold weather sets in late in the autumn and Jack Frost 

 has put his seal upon the landscape, too many plant lovers 

 hang up their vasculums and fall to sitting by the fire until the 

 hepaticas come again in March or April. We should add to our knowl- 

 edge if we stirred about the fields and woodlands in winter time more 

 than we do, for at this season plant life is really not so much dead as 

 sleeping, and life, under however discouraging an environment, always 

 is worthy of attention. 



There are, first of all, the evergreen plants, many of whose charac- 

 ters may be studied as effectively in winter as in summer, while the de- 

 ciduous shrubs and trees offer an unfailing source of entertainment in 

 their buds, which are generally set on in the autumn and develop grad- 

 ually as the days lengthen after the turn of the year. One whose atten- 

 tion is for the first time directed to the winter buds of our ordinary 

 forest trees cannot fail to be struck with the great variety and delicate 

 l)eauty that mark them, and if he is situated so as to be able to watch a 

 l>articular group of them for a succession of weeks, he may become 



