430 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JUNE 
was a surprise to find Polypodium vulgare growing on the sand of 
the hillside under pines and hemlocks and closely associated 
with the yew. The beech stood close by. It was strange to get 
the polypod, the yew, and the beech-drop (Epiphegus Virgini- 
ana) growing in the same sandy soil and near neighbors. The 
fronds of the polypod were fine fruiting specimens from three to 
twelve inches high. It was the first time I had met with it 
except on rocks. Aspidium marginale was likewise a frequent 
fern on the slope of the hills. It attained a very luxuriant size 
in the depressions among them, where fronds three feet high 
were measured. This fern was also common on the east or 
wooded side of the dune lying between the old outlet of White © 
lake and Lake Michigan, growing here also with the yew under 
the pines and hemlocks. 
South of Muskrat lake is a large fine tract of primitive forest 
as yet but little touched by fire or the woodman’s axe. It is on 
a sandy, gently undulating, or in places almost level, plain. It 
is known as the ‘beech woods,” as these trees abound and fine 
examples of them occur. Being dense the undergrowth was not 
extensive, but like that of the denser woods lying between White 
and Duck lakes. 
Once I met with the cancer root, Conopholis Americana, but 
the abundant parasite, so-called, in al] such woods is Epiphegus 
Virginiana. It is closely associated with the common beech, but 
I do not succeed in making out any very definite connection 
between it and the roots of the beech tree. As regards the soil 
the bulbous or thickened base of this plant is very superficial in 
position. Some of them have finer roots which run deeper, but 
the short, simple, or branched organs which cover the surface of 
the bulb and give to it its rough exterior do not have a root 
connection. They point in almost all directions and are often 
found springing from the stem above the place where the scaly 
leaves appear. The tip of these organs is slightly enlarged, of 
Open tissue without epidermis. There is no similarity here 
between this and the strong union, or large haustorium, one finds 
in the case of the allied broom rape, Conopholis, and its host 
