Gregor RocKs 19 1 



luxuriant plants I have ever seen or expect to see. I 

 placed several in my vasculum, and descended to the 

 stream, hastening on toward the village. Here I met 

 an old gray-haired man — the inn-keeper for the mill 

 laborers. He recognized my botanizing outfit, and 

 remarked that Mr. Eggleston had passed through the 

 town in 1899. He directed me to the Gregor Rocks, 

 above the village, and thus I found the path winding 

 around the northern brow of these limerock cliffs. 



Crossing the Pownal Centre road, I entered the 

 pasture east of the village church, and wound up the 

 cliffs above the limekiln quarry. Here, striking in 

 among the cedar trees and ragged bluffs, I pulled my- 

 self up under the trees and rocks. Resting for a 

 moment, I beheld a fern which proved to be the Purple- 

 stemmed Cliff-Brake (^PellcBa afropiirpicrea). Much 

 elated by my discovery, I fell to wondering what the 

 little Wall- Rue Spleenwort {Asplenium Ruta-murarid) 

 could look like. I had studied the plates of these rare 

 ferns, but had not known them face to face. I soon 

 came to an enormous limerock boulder on the summit 

 of Gregor Rocks, and here I found the rare ferns for 

 which I searched. From the crevices both the tender 

 green tufts of the Wall- Rue Spleenwort and the wiry 

 purple stems of the Cliff-Brake grew luxuriantly, drap- 

 ing the fissured sides of the boulder. Climbing to the 

 top of the boulder, I saw" beyond my reach a tuft of 

 Walking Fern. This proved to me that this plant 

 throve on the dryest of limerocks in the full glare of 

 the sun, as well as in damp sheltered places. None of 



