Wilson. — Observations on Epigcea repens, /.. 61 



which have been made on plants seem to exemplify the same 

 principle. 1 



At Blowing Rock, in the mountains of North Carolina, in 

 a luxuriant forest, in every way the natural home of Epigaa, 

 the writer made an estimate of the relative numbers of the 

 two sexes. On a walk of four miles through the woods a 

 cluster of flowers from every plant met with was plucked, 

 provided the last plant picked from was not nearer then ten 

 feet. Conditions were as nearly natural in soil, shade and sur- 

 rounding vegetation as could well be imagined. In all 98 

 separate plants were examined ; 45 of these were females and 

 53 males. This was not very far from an even distribution 

 of the two sexes, there being only eight more male plants 

 than female. 



On the next day a similar estimate was made on a rocky 

 knob, over 4,000 feet high, from which most of the trees had 

 been cut, the bushes burned and more or less of the soil 

 washed away. On the whole it was an unfavorable place for 

 the growth of the plant. Only 67 clusters could be found. 

 Of these 40 were females and 27 males. Again, on the fol- 

 lowing day an estimate was made for ten miles along a 

 mountain road, from the sides of which much of the timber 

 had been cut, often the bushes burned and the plants exposed 

 to the full rays of the sun. From the adjacent forest Epigcea 

 had struggled into the exposed places. The locality was not 

 a favorable one for the plant. 



Three hundred and twelve separate plants were examined. 

 Of these 173 were females and 139 males. Here it will be 

 seen again that the females predominate. Ten days later 

 the last examination of this kind was made in Pennsylvania, 

 near West Chester. Here the plants were picked mostly on 

 the roadside and on the edge of a sunny, grassy field, where 

 the facilities for their growth were not as good as in the open 

 woods. One hundred and thirty-seven plants were examined. 

 Of these 92 were females and 45 males, an excess of 47 

 females over the male plants. The writer gives these notes 

 for what they are worth, being well aware of the fact that a 



1 Dusing. Jen. Zeitsch. f. Naturw , XVII, 1SS3. Heyer, Ber. d. landwirthschaftl. Inst , 

 Halle, V. 1S84. Meehan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1S84. 



