25 



flower is quite different in color, and there is much less pubes- 

 cence on the foliage. These early leaves, as in most violets, are 

 borne on very short petioles, giving the plant a tufted appear- 

 ance, and causing the flowers to stand out prominently. When 

 the new leaves develop they speedily attain large dimensions, 

 completely overtopping the vernal leaves and the few remaining 

 flowers, so that the plant is really a remarkable sight throughout 

 the greater part of the summer, with two distinct masses of foli- 

 age. The cleistogamous flowers are not produced, in cultivation 

 at least, in the same abundance as those of V. pa.hna.ta, so that 

 my plants have not spread to any extent beyond the sp©t in 

 which they were originally set out. 



I wish to express my obligation to Miss Angell for the cour- 

 tesies she has shown in furnishing notes and material, and to her 

 is due the chief credit of its recognition as a distinct species. It 

 grows in great abundance in tracts of open woodland ■ in the 

 Orange mountains, being associated with V. pahnata there. 



United States National Museum. 



SHORTER NOTES 

 Animal Mycophagists. — I noticed last summer a large sphin- 

 gid larva feeding with evident relish upon a plant of Polyporns 

 flavo-virens in the woods near Blacksburg, Virginia. It is a 

 matter of common observation that flies, snails, chipmunks and 

 various other animals that inhabit the woods are fond of mush- 

 rooms, but it was rather surprising to find a green tomato-worm 

 eating a yellowish-brown and rather tough fungus. Dr. Charles 

 H. Peck in his forty-third report speaks of seeing large tufts of 

 Armillaria mellea in the Adirondacks without pilei, which, he 

 thinks, were eaten by deer. It is well known that mushrooms 

 are sometimes eaten by cows, particularly in late summer when 

 the pastures become dry. An interesting case of mycophagy 

 was recently brought to my attention by Mr. M. W. Gorman, 

 of Portland, Oregon, who has botanized considerably in 

 Alaska. He says that in the region west of the Yukon River 

 the small red, or " pine," squirrel lives during the winter upon 



