THE CRANBERRY MARSH. 209 



the camp, he unstraps his japanned case, and, his face 

 beaming with triumphant smiles, proceeds to exhibit 

 his wonderful finds in the shape of rare beetles of 

 metallic hues, green, red, scarlet, blue and sulphur- 

 colored; dragon-flies large and small, bronze, blue, red 

 or metallic green ; silvery moths with dappled wings or 

 elegant blue ones with brilliant eyes. 



From a little pill-box which he has carried carefully 

 in his vest pocket he takes a tiny land tortoise, no 

 bigger than a black beetle, that he found basking in the 

 sand near a creek and only just hatched from its warm 

 shady nest. 



And then he will be off the next morning at sunrise 

 to the big peat moss which he has not yet had leisure to 

 explore. 



The peat mosses are, of all our native mosses, the 

 most worthy of notice. They form extensive beds, 

 many acres in extent, in overflowed marshes, extinct 

 lakes and partially dried beaver meadows, where the 

 bottom soil is still wet and spongy. 



In such situations where these white mosses abound, 

 mingled with the running vines of the cranberry there 

 are other marsh-loving plants and shrubs, such as the 

 Labrador Tea (Ledum latifolia), the Wild Eosemary 

 (Andromeda polifolia), the Kalmia and the white and 

 pink flowered Spirasa. 



Here, too, we meet with large beds of the curious and 

 interesting pitcher plants and that little gem, the sundew. 



