243 



wide enough to walk through — where large masses of rock have 

 become detached from the main ledge. In these gloomy crev- 

 ices, the walls of which are moist in many places from dripping 

 water, are numerous bryophytes (mostly common species) and 

 a few ferns, much as in the " rock-houses " of northern Alabama, 

 described by Dr. Mohr.* In fact the whole appearance of the 

 place, barring its surroundings of open pine-barrens, is much like 

 that of some places in the sandstone plateaus of Alabama with 

 which I had recently become acquainted, and this similarity ex- 

 tends also to the flora, there being not a few species in common, 



Down in the gorge the vegetation is very similar to that of 

 river-bluffs in the same region,! while on the broad exposed 

 horizontal ledges on either side were the usual plants of such 

 places, including Scnccio tomoitosus, CJiondropliora virgata, Poit- 

 stemon dissecttis, IlysantJies rcfracta, Croto7iopsis, Talinuin, and 

 Selaginella acanthonota (or a closely related form |), which I had 

 not found in Coffee County before. In addition to these, Steno- 

 phylli4S capillarh on the flat rocks was new to the flora of the 

 Altamaha Grit region, and CJieilantlics lanosa, on the cliffs, had 

 never been seen in the coastal plain before. Epidendrum conop- 

 seiun in full bloom on the cliffs was another surprise, for I had 

 never before found it on anything but a smooth-barked tree, and 

 rarely on any other tree than Magnolia grandiflora, none of 

 which was in sight at this place. 



The occurrence of CJieilanthes lanosa here furnishes an interest- 

 ing problem in distribution. The nearest other stations known 

 for it are on granite rocks over lOO miles away, § and there is 

 little likelihood that there is another such place in South Georgia, 

 so one is compelled to believe that its spores have traveled a 

 hundred miles in one leap. Some of the other plants having a 

 similarly disjointed distribution may possibly have grown in many 

 places in the sandy pine-barrens for a time after the region last 

 emerged from the sea and when competition was not so severe 



*Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 6: 75, 76. 1901. 



f See Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 17 : 102-106. 1906. 



I See Bull. Torrey Club 32 : 152. 1905 ; Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 17 : 309. 1906. 



\ See Fern Bull. 13 : 10. 1905 ; where it is called C. vestita. 



