20 



rod and similar plants were closely entwined by the coils of the 

 fern for nearly four feet from the ground. The fruiting pinnules 

 were very abundant and formed nearly half the length of the 

 fronds. Six or more fronds were often twined about the same 

 stem, forming a loosely coiled rope. The pinnules of such 

 masses would make the diameter of the whole reach three or 

 four inches — a dense cluster of fine brownish lobes, contrasting 

 with the brighter green of the less dissected and fewer sterile 

 pinnules lower on the stem. Following the slender fronds down- 

 ward, the dark brown rootstocks are found covered with about 

 an inch of moss and leaf-mould, among the roots of the plants 

 which support the fronds. The rootstocks, which usually bear 

 only a few, from one to three, fronds, are often branched, throw- 

 ing off one branch at a time, and they persist for a number of 

 years, so that a length of a foot or more is not rare. 



While the plants appear to require abundant moisture, they 

 are not common in the sphagnum of the swamp, but are confined 

 quite strictly to the growth of stout herbaceous plants and low 

 shrubs along the bog margin, or on islands of similar growth in 

 the midst of the sphagnum. 



The large colony just described covers about a square rod at 

 the edge of the bog, but extends through the undergrowth for a 

 considerable distance from the open swamp. Along the sides 

 of a diainage ditch it is quite luxuriant but does not equal the more 

 exposed plants. Here the soil has only a thin layer of moss and 

 leaf-mould upon it, the rootstocks being more directly in con- 

 tact with the wet sand below. In some portions of the swamp 

 area there are clay beds, but the Lygodium has not been observed 

 in their immediate vicinity. 



The sterile pinnules of the climbing fern were almost grass- 

 green on December 22nd, but the fertile ones were turning brown. 

 Nearly all other foliage had been killed and browned by the se- 

 vere frosts, so that the color of the fern was in striking contrast 

 to its surroundings. But conspicuous as its color was, it was not 

 easily seen until close at hand, owing to the mass of dead sedge 

 stalks, of golden-rods and briers in the midst of which the plants 

 are located. 



