1880.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF THILADELPHIA. 333 



EHIZOPODS IN THE MOSSES OF THE SUMMIT OF ROAN MOUNTAIN, 



NOETH CAROLINA. 



BY JOSEPH LEIDY, M, D. 



In a trip to Roan Mountain, Mitchell Co., North Carolina, in 

 the early part of July, the writer was led to make some observa- 

 tions on the microscopic animal life, among the mosses on the 

 summit of the mountain. The top of Roan Mountain, at an alti- 

 tude of 6367 feet, forms an extensive grassy prairie, suitable for 

 pasture. It is adorned with broad patches of the beautiful Rhodo- 

 dendron catawbiense, and bordered Avith forests, chiefly of Firs — 

 Abies canadensis and A. Fraseri. The floor of the forests, made 

 up of broken granitic and gneissoid rocks and fallen timbers, is 

 thickly carpeted with a luxuriant growth of mosses, conspicuously 

 decorated at the time by the common Wood-Sorrel, Oxalis aceto- 

 sella. Chief among the mosses, each apparently attempting to 

 outvie the others in the exuberance of its growth, were the three 

 pretty Hjpnums — U. splendens^ H. crista-castrensis, and H. tri- 

 quetrum. 



Clouds, dews, and frequent rains keep the mossy carpet more 

 or less moist or wet the greater part of the time, and it thus comes 

 to be a favorable habitation for man3^ of the humbler forms of 

 animal life. The shell-covered Rhizopods abound ; and the Wheel 

 Animalcule, Rotifer vulgaris, and the Water Bear, Macrobiotus 

 Hufelandii also find a suitable home in it. When the mosses 

 become more or less dr^', the animalcules they shelter become 

 torpid, and then again become active on the restoration of 

 moisture. 



In water squeezed from the Il3^pnums, besides the animals just 

 indicated there were noticed a few young Anguillules, pollen 

 grains of Abies, starch grains, spores of lichens and fungi, ova, 

 vegetal hairs, etc. Few or no liAdng Diatomes or Desmids were 

 present. 



The Rhizopods observed were as follows : 



Nebela flabellulum. — Common. Nearly circular in outline, 

 usually slightly broader than long, and commonly with a short 

 neck or rim to the mouth ; colorless or with a feeble yellowish 

 tint ; composed of circular cancelli of variable size and propor- 



