FIELD TRIPS 



Trip of May 25 and 26 at Branchville, N. J. 



The Torrey Club field trip for this weekend was a combination 

 trip with the Suffolk County Naturalists' Club. Seventy-seven 

 members of the two clubs registered at the Pines, a charming inn 

 half hidden in a grove of white pines. Among those present were 

 high school teachers representing eight of the New York City 

 schools, nearly all of them members of the Torrey Club. Mr. 

 and Mrs. William Gavin Taylor were official host and hostess 

 of the party and made it a very pleasant as well as profitable occa- 

 sion for everyone. With early morning bird hikes, fern, moss and 

 general flower hikes through the day, one day spent in a survey of 

 the geological features of the surrounding country under the di- 

 rection of Dr. Henry B. Kummel, State Geologist of New Jersey, 

 and evenings devoted to star study, the days were filled delight- 

 fully. The following account of the ferns was sent in by Dr. 

 Benedict and Mr. Taylor has compiled a list of all birds seen. 



Fern Hunting at Branchville 



One of the disadvantages of fern hunting, compared with bird 

 hunting, as noted by the frank wife of a bird enthusiast at the re- 

 cent Branchville field meeting, is the fact that with ferns you have 

 to prove your identification. The fern stays put, and if you de- 

 clare some remarkable find, it is up to you to show it to every 

 'doubting Thomas' and prove your case. With birds, however, a 

 quick glimpse of a brown motion at the top of a tree, — "That was 

 a cerise-throated whiffle-bird," and down it goes on your list. I 

 know 'wishful thinking' would exert constant pressure if ever I 

 should take up birds seriously. 



Even in ferns, it can play its part as was evidenced also at the 

 Branchville meeting on one of the morning trips. In a deep verti- 

 cal crack in a large's limestone ledge there was found a pinnate 

 Adiantum. The wishful thinking started : "Perhaps it's Adiantum 

 Capillus Veneris; that pinnate. Of course it is a small and un- 

 developed leaf, but the pinnate aren't lunulate enough for pedattim. 

 They are more cuneate, like those of the Venus-hair fern. Capil- 

 lus- V cncris has been found up north in tlie Cattskills, so it might 



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