752 GEOLOGICAL SURVFA' OF THE TERRITORIES. 



HI. The flora of tlie Fire-Hole Basin is distinct, from the fact that it is 

 a region so covered with hot springs and geysers, giving in the gejser- 

 ite, scattered everywhere, an unnatural soil, and creating an artificial 

 warmth. The geyserite is a 'bleak, barren waste, supporting only plants 

 l)eculiar to itself, and seeming to kill everything of a different nature. 

 A great number of the hot springs have made deposits until they have 

 almost (;losed themselves up. On top of this a soil has colle(;ted, the 

 spring underneath keeps it warm, and the luxuriant growth of a regular 

 bot-bed is the result. The plants that grow in such situations are not 

 all of them different in species from those that grow in the valleys near 

 by, but they spring up nuich ranker and attain two or three times their 

 usual size. To some plants of common species the soil gives such a dis- 

 colored appearance as to make them at first scarcely recognizable. For 

 instance, take the Gentians that are represented here so profusely. G. 

 detonsa, G. affinis, and G. Amarclla were repeatedly met with disguised 

 by perfectly black stems and veins, leaves unusually dark, and petals 

 with the black appearance common to dried specimens. This was the 

 case only in the immediate neighborhood of the hot springs. Elsewhere 

 they retained their original coloring, though growing much ranker than 

 I ever saw them. 



The plants growing on the geyserite are chiefly of the composite 

 family, represented by the genera jSoUdacjo, Senecio^ Chwnactis, Linosy- 

 riK, Antennaria, and Achillea. In some of the hot springs in both Upper 

 and Lower Gey'ser Basins an Alga was discovered growing, but it came 

 East in such a condition that its si)ecies could not be determined. Also 

 in the Lower Basin were found some orange-colored confervoid specimens, 

 concerning which Charles H. Peck, esq., to whom they were sent, re- 

 marks, " I believe they have been described under the name Conferva 

 mirantiaca, but it is now generally regarded as the primary state of some 

 plant of higher order, moss or fern." 



In all this western region the botanist notices the absence of one great 

 group of plants. The Ferns are almost unrepresented here, owing to 

 the great dryness of the climate. Being fond of dark, damp places, 

 they are seldom found in this elevated region, where the air is dry and 

 pure. Occasionally, in some dark and unusually damp canon, a few 

 stnnted forms were found, and then in no great abundance. Two locali- 

 ties only were noted where Ferns were found in any size and abundance : 

 once in the new Geyser Basin, discovered on Shoshone Lake, being 

 there the hot-bed growth before mentioned; and next under the shadow 

 of the Tetons, on the eastern slope, where a mountain-stream had made 

 a rich deposit, and no sunlight could come on account of the immense 

 growth of Gonifercc. But seven genera were found, including ten spe- 

 cies, viz, one Pteris^ tw^o Felkms, one Cryptogmmnie, two AspidiumSf 

 one Cystopteris, one Botryclilum^ and two ^Yoodsias. Of these the Gys- 

 topterisfmgilis was bj' far the mos^t abundant. BofrycMum hmarioides, 

 var. ohliquum, was found only in the Geyser Basin. 



Mosses were very abundant, both along the cold streams of dark 

 canons and also upon the bare rocks of the mountain tops. A consider- 

 able collection was made, numbering fifty-two species. Some were easily 

 determined by comparing with dried and labeled specimens, but the 

 doubtful ones were sent to Leo Lesquereux, esq., Columbus, Ohio, who 

 has done them full justice. It will be noticed that some were unable 

 to be determined on account of having no fruit, especially specimens of 

 the genus Brynm. The order used in catalpguing them is that of the 

 " Musci Boreali-Americani'''' of Sullivant and Lesquereux. 



Lieheus were common on the volcanic rock of the Teton Range. Some 



