AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 45 



Where the fire has opened these shades to the light 

 the almost universal fire weed (epilobium) and the 

 lovely brown fire-moss (funarid) abound. In swamps 

 and lowlands the combustion of decay, almost as 

 quick and effective as fire itself, opens large spaces 

 to the light ; and here abound chiefly the skunk 

 cabbage of the Pacific coast (lysichitori) and many 

 forms of the lovliest mosses, grown beyond belief 

 save by those who have looked upon their tropical 

 congeners. Hypnums and Mniums make the great 

 mass which meet the eye ; and among the many less 

 obvious forms a careful search will reveal many 

 species characteristic of this coast alone. The lower 

 forms of the cryptogams, the lichens and the fungi, 

 abound in greatest profusion as might be expected. 

 The chief interest in these, in the present state of our 

 knowledge of them, springs from their disposition 

 to invade the more valuable forms of vegetation 

 which follow advancing civilization." 



I measured one fungus, which I found growing upon 

 the decaying trunk of a mammoth fir, that was thir- 

 teen inches thick and thirty-four inches wide. I have 

 frequently seen mosses growing on rotten logs, in 

 the deep shades of these lonely forests, that were 

 twelve to sixteen inches deep, and others hanging 

 from branches overhead three feet or more in length. 

 There are places in these dense forests where the trees 

 stand so close and their branches are so intertwined 

 that the sun 1 s rays never reach the ground, and have 

 not, perhaps for centuries ; and it is but natural that 

 these shade and moisture loving plants should grow 

 to great size in such places. 



The fauna of this Territory includes the elk, black- 



