80 



THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



THE GRAY MEMORIAL BOTANICAL CHAPTER 



OF THE AGAS8IZ ASSOCIATION. 



• THE STUDY OV MOSSES. 



BY F. W. CHATTERTON. 



This branch of botany can profitably 

 studied during the winter. At odd times 

 during one winter I determined about 

 sixty species. In some genera ( as 

 Hypnum) hours are required on one 

 species, the points of difference between 

 allied forms being so close, and the con- 

 fusion in nomenclature so great. Not- 

 withstanding, I am more and more fas- 

 cinated with these delicate and beatiful 

 things that seem te be especially beau- 

 tiful after a wet season. 



My aids — besides Lesquereux and 

 James' Manual — are SuUivant's magni- 

 ficent work, the " Icones Muscorum" 

 and "Supplement," the plates of which 

 are a great help and superb specimens of 

 the engraver's work. 1 also have Hook- 

 er & Taylor's "Muscologia Britannica," 

 an old but interesting book, also a 

 number of monographs. 



The literature of the subject is scarce 

 and expensive and this is the only draw- 

 back to the study, but one can do much 

 without such help as I have mentioned, 

 if one will lay in a good stock of energy 

 and patience, both indispensable quali- 

 ties for a botanist. 



[Since the above was written Prof. 

 Charles R. Barnes, Madison, Wis., has 

 published an excellent key to the genera 

 and species of mosses, which may be 

 procured of the author for fifty cents a 

 copy. Mrs. Britton, of Columbia Col- 

 lege, is now writing a manual of the 

 mosses of the North-eastern United 

 States, which will be illustrated, and I 

 hope within the reach of the pocket 

 books of our members. There will be 

 no doubt of its usefulness and accuracy, 

 as Mrs. Britton has been a careful stu- 

 dent of the mosses for some time. 



This Manual may be published during 



the coming winter and will, I trust 

 greatly increase the interest of the 

 younger botanists in moss iS. — G. H. H.] 



FLORA OF DUPAGE CO., ILL. 



BY W. S. MOFFAT. 



DtXPAGB COUNTY is in the north-east- 

 ern part of the state, directly west of 

 Chicago, its eastern boundry being only 

 fifteen miles from the west shore of 

 Lake Michigan. 



Its area is about .380 square miles. It 

 is watered chiefly by two small streams, 

 the east and west branches of the Du- 

 Page river. The Desplanes river also 

 flows along the county line for a dis- 

 tance of about seven miles. The banks 

 of these streams are fringed with timber, 

 chiefly black, red, white and bur oak, 

 hickory and butternut, white and black 

 ash, soft maple, white and red elm, 

 occasionally cottonwood and willows in 

 the low ground, with an abundant 

 growth of hazel throughout. 



With the exception of the timber belts 

 along the streams and an occasional 

 inland grove or timber island, the sur- 

 face of the country is a level or gently 

 undulating prairie, the depressions be- 

 tween the undulations being low, some- 

 times marshy, and supporting a luxur- 

 iant growth of sedges and grasses. The 

 soil is black or brown humus, one to 

 four feet in depth, underlaid with blue, 

 or, in the timber, yellowish clay of the 

 drift. 



Beneath the drift, at a depth of 20 to 

 100 feet are the limestones of the Niagara 

 group. This formation is exposed in a 

 few places in the bed? of streams. 



I have not been able to discover that 

 the flora is modified by the surface ex- 

 posure of the rock. 



( TO BE CONTINUED.) 





