MEDSGER: THE SOUTHERN CATSKILLS 297 
On the summits of the mountains, evergreens predominate. 
On Wittenberg and Slide mountains, the balsam fir (Abies bal- 
samea) is the chief tree. Near the summit of the former mountain 
are almost impenetrable forests of this tree. On Wittenberg are 
also to be found the black spruce and a few small trees of the red 
spruce. Cornell Mountain, which is one of the highest peaks 
of the Catskills, reaching an elevation of 3,900 feet, has its top 
and west side covered with a heavy virgin forest of red spruce 
(Picea rubra). Viewed from the summit of Slide Mountain, this 
beautiful forest appears to cover several square miles. Scarcely 
any other species grow in this area and its boundaries are very 
definite. It is almost inaccessible to the lumbermen. The trees 
are tall and straight, many of them attaining a diameter of two 
feet or more. 
The mountain ash is a common tree on Slide and some of the 
other mountains. This year its large fruit-clusters were well 
developed. Judging from the variation in the leaves, both Sorbus 
americana and Sorbus sambucifolia probably exist in this locality. 
This will be a question for further investigation. 
Thirty species of ferns were collected. The most abundant 
were the hay-scented fern, Dennstaedtia punctilobula, and the 
spinulose shield-fern, Dryopteris spinulosa. A coarse variety of 
the latter fern is found near the summit of Slide Mountain. The 
intermediate variety is especially abundant along the northeast 
base of Slide, where it grows with Lycopodium lucidulum. The 
two often nearly cover the ground. Nowhere else in the country 
have we found this club moss so plentiful. Among the rarer ferns 
observed were Botrychium lanceolatum, Camptosorus rhizophyllus, 
Matteuccia Struthiopteris (of which only one station is known in 
the locality we studied), and Dryopteris Braunii. The last-named 
fern was of especial interest to us, for the specimens were the first 
we had seen outside of the herbarium. We first found it on the 
east side of Mount Pleasant, where it was growing with Dryopteris 
Goldieana. We afterward found many plants of it growing along 
the trail to Wittenberg at an altitude of about 1,500 feet. It is 
graceful, distinct, and certainly one of the most beautiful of all 
our eastern species. 
Inasmuch as nine tenths of the region studied is covered 
