276 TRANS. OF THE ACAD. OP SCIENCE. 



pictum* A visit to this same locality in the month of August 

 enabled me to collect full material for its description. 

 It is apparently quite local in its distribution, as amid a great 

 number of lakes, lying along our route, it was only met with 

 in two, adjoining our stationary camp. Doubtless it will yet 

 be found elsewhere in similar locations, but still it must be 

 regarded as a rare plant, well worthy to be rescued from its 

 obscurity, and from possible future extinction, by horticultu- 

 ral enterprise. 



Returning to Boulder City in the latter part of June, we 

 again essayed to penetrate the mountains by the ordinary 

 route of travel up Clear Creek, Reaching Empire City in 

 July, we again established a permanent camp in this delight- 

 ful summer retreat, revisiting the various alpine peaks, over 

 ground rendered familiar by two previous seasons of explo- 

 ration. 



In the latter part of July, the mountain passes having by 

 that time become passable for pack animals, we made an ex- 

 cursion to the Hot Sulphur Springs of Middle Park, passing 

 over the Vasquez trail on the route selected for a wagon 

 road, which had been worked to near the foot of the range, 

 on the east side, in the summer of 1863. The divide here 

 (being a little more elevated than Berthoud's Pass) reaches 

 just to the limit of timber growth, and, by a smooth open 

 swell, passing on either hand steep rocky slopes, leads down 

 on the western slope to the head waters of Dennis Creek. 

 The valley along tins route, being more open than the corre- 

 sponding one by way of Berthoud's Pass, is better adapted 

 for a wagon road, and the slope being more prolonged has 

 an easier grade. Like the former, however, the lower part 

 of the valley is much obstructed by beaver dams, though the 

 greater width offers better facilities for road construction. 

 The open Park is reached at nearly the same point as by the 

 Berthoud trail, and thence by a succession of open meadows 

 and sage plains, passing over various intervening ridges, we 

 arrive at the main valley of Grand River. At the foot of a 

 ledge of tilted rocks, where Grand River makes a sweep to 

 enter a deep canon, a surface of white rock is exposed, at the 

 upper part of which, on a cool summer morning, a light cloud 

 of vapory steam is seen to arise. This light-colored rock is 

 formed from the gradually accumulated deposit of the Hot 

 Springs, which, issuing from several orifices, formerly trickled 

 over the rocky surface, leaving a white calcareous incrusta- 

 tion. Part of this issue has since been directed in a small 

 stream, thence falling by a cascade of about ten feet into a 

 natural basin; here it drops on a smooth pebbly surface, 



* Nuphar polysepalum, var. pictum, EDgelm. Sec appendix to this article. 



