FIELD TRIPS OF THE CLUB 
Two interesting late fall excursions of the club, added to the 
1930 schedule, were on Sunday, November 30, in the region of 
old iron mines between Sterling and Tuxedo Lakes, a joint meet- 
ing with the Trail Campers of America; and on Sunday, Decem- 
ber 7, on Bellvale Mountain, north of Greenwood Lake, a joint 
outing with the Warwick, New York, group which maintains 
the Appalachian Trail in this region. 
Mosses were the most important subject for study on the 
November 30 meeting. A number of species were found in good 
“fruiting” condition, perhaps the most uncommon, at least the 
most infrequently noted, being the quaint Buxbaumia aphylla. 
Webera sessilis, the other almost stemless species, was common. 
Leucobryum glaucum was very common but was not found in 
fruit, although the writer found it with plentiful capsules on a 
later Sunday, on Kittatiny Mountain in western New Jersey a 
rather rare and beautiful sight. Species with mature or opened 
but persistent capsules were Polytrichum Ohioenes, Bryum caes- 
piticum, Ditrichum tortile, Ceratodon purpureus, Dicranella hetero- 
malla, very common, Dicranum scoparium (very few capsules ob- 
served), Catharinea undulata, very common, and handsome with 
masses of warm brown capsules, Aulacomnium heterostichum, 
Hylocomnium proliferum, Hypnum recurvans, and Thelia hirtella. 
Sphagnums, Mniums and Dicranums were noted, without cap- 
sules, also Thuidium delicatulum, and Climacium Americanum. 
Conocephallum was the most conspicuous liverwort. This region 
with its swamps and ledges would be interesting for another ex- 
cursion for the mosses which mature their capsules in spring and 
early summer. The iron mines, some dating from before the. 
Revolution, were of interest, particularly the great iron roaster, 
at the Red Back Mine, used up to sixty years ago to drive the 
sulphur out of the ore to make it marketable. On the way out to 
Sloatsburg, in a heavy rain, which began about the middle of the 
afternoon, the party noticed a new beaver pond, on a brook ris- 
ing near the south end of Tuxedo Park, another new location of 
these animals, probably from the original transplantations of 
them ten years ago, in the Harriman Park. 
On the December 7 excursion from Mount Peter, along z 
Appalachian Trail over Bellvale Mountain to Mombasha Hig 
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