MEDSGER: THE SOUTHERN CATSKILLS 299 
conifer sometimes nearly covers the ground. Ме next came across 
the creeping snowberry, Chiogenes hispidula, with its snow-white 
berries and strong odor of wintergreen. Deciduous trees are 
getting fewer, while the fir and the spruce are becoming more 
abundant. From 3,000 to 3,700 feet the mountain is steep and 
the trail is difficult to follow. Soft moss generally covers the 
ground and often the trunks and branches of the fir trees are 
covered with moss to their very tops. The sun shines but a few 
hours a day on this, the north side of the mountain. Nowhere 
else have we seen the common polypody fern grow in such perfec- 
tion as on Wittenberg and Cornell mountains. 
Probably the most conspicuous plant on the summit of Witten- 
berg, which has an elevation of about 3,900 feet, is Aralia hispida. 
Most of the plants had just finished blooming and small green 
berries were forming. On the morning of that same day, August 
25, we found a cluster of these plants in Woodland valley, where 
the berries were dark purple, ripe, and many of them had either 
fallen off or had been eaten by the birds. This plant looks much 
more like an umbellifer than do the other species of the genus and 
the immature plant is apt to be mistaken for one. On the very 
summit of Wittenberg, the most interesting shrub to us is Jicioides 
mucronata or mountain holly. Heretofore we have seen this 
shrub only in mountain swamps, and were surprised to find it on 
the dry summit of Wittenberg. Growing in the open, the shrub 
developed a fine globular form with somewhat pendent branches 
containing numerous red berries. It would be a splendid thing in 
cultivation if it could be induced to grow on moderately dry soil. 
We spent the night on Wittenberg and had the great pleasure 
of seeing the aurora borealis as it is generally pictured in books. 
Great luminous streams flared up in the northern sky extending 
well toward the zenith. They were ever changing yet always 
beautiful. The phenomena lasted for nearly an hour. From 
Wittenberg, we went to the summit of Cornell which is just a 
little less than 4,000 feet in altitude. This mountain is covered 
with trees. We went down the west side of Cornell through this 
beautiful virgin forest of red spruce, crossed a flat strewn with 
boulders and at an elevation of probably 3,000 feet began to 
ascend the eastern slope of Slide. Here against the sunny incline, 
