78 . NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The color of the growing moss and pitcher plants in this bog 

 was quite remarkable. In the clumps around trees where the moss 

 has not been stripped, the color of the moss was almost uniformly 

 green, and the pitcher plants were green with the well marked 

 purple stripes so common to them, while in the portions that had 

 been stripped the new growth, both of moss and pitcher plants, 

 was almost uniformly a brilliant reddish purple. This at first 

 sight might seem to be due to a difference in the organic acids 

 furnished as fertilizing ingredients, but the existence of both 

 purple and red moss in the same clump and under identical con- 

 ditions in the swamp near Owl's Head seems to oppose this theory. 

 Phoenix. About 2 miles east of Phoenix in the same town of 

 Schroeppel is a large marsh which comes down to the bank of the 

 Oneida river and borders it for about a half mile. Two small 

 creeks pass through this marsh, and along their shores was the 

 only place where observation could be made this year (1902) . A 

 growth of elms, maples and other deciduous trees seems to cover 

 the entire swamp. Hardly any conifers are to be seen, and the 

 trees range in size from a foot to 2 feet in diameter. On the 

 occasion of the author's visit, the surface was covered with silt 

 and water and was so soft that only in a few places would it bear 

 the weight of a man. Some portions which have been cleared 

 and drained make good farming land, and it is said that peat 

 underlies a large portion of the swamp. At only one place, how- 

 ever, was any indication of its existence seen by the author, and 

 that was where a telephone pole had been set in the marsh, and 

 a few pieces were brought up in digging the hole. No information 

 in regard to the depth of the peat or the thickness of the over- 

 burden was to be obtained, but there is no question as to its exis- 

 tence at this point. 



Owl's Head. About a half mile south of Owl's Head station, 

 Franklin co., is a large marsh of apparently very recent origin, 

 which may have been formed within the past 50 years. Around 

 its borders is a dense growth of arbor vitae and tamaracks, a 

 typical " cedar swamp," but with very little peat underlying it. 



