1876.] Botany. 367 
preservation of such a fragile organism as a moss, while what we regard 
as more enduring objects perish and disappear. At Scovill’s Point, a 
sharp, high tongue of rock, of trap formation, running out into the lake 
for several hundred feet, the almost level summit presents a large space 
thickly carpeted with the moss Barbula ruralis Hedw.- In this were in- 
scribed a number of names and dates, made by simply cutting away the 
moss and letting the underlying rock appear. The inscriptions, most] 
in bold characters of several inches in length, were in general distinctly 
legible, the dark green (almost black) moss preserving the outlines, and 
appearing, with few exceptions, to have remained at a stand-still — 
neither decaying nor growing — since the writings were made. 
ne of the most prominent names was that of the gentleman after 
whom the point is called. This has the date ’46 attached to it; and a 
friend, a mutual acquaintance, who accompanied me and pointed _out the 
place, informed me that in the year denoted (twenty-eight years before), 
the gentleman, visiting Ile Royale, to his surprise, found inscriptions in 
the moss here, and added his name with the date. His son was with 
him at the time, and, revisiting the island in 1872, climbed up here to see 
whether any trace of his father’s writing remained, and to his astonish- 
ment finding it as well as the other inscriptions undisturbed, cut his own 
name with the date — all in the Barbula. The isolated locality, and the 
steep (mostly perpendicular or overhanging) sides of the cliff, render it 
probable that few persons would find their way to the spot without some 
such object in view. The inscriptions, as seen by me in 1874, were as 
follows: “June — 1825.” «— 43.” “P. A. Scovill, 746.” 
1847. — “ O. ©. Scovill — 1872.” 
The first of these inscriptions I have thought may have been made 
by the party of Captain Bayfield, R. N., who about the date given made 
his survey of Lake Superior, undoubtedly visiting this island. That it 
and the other older ones should be preserved for such a length of time in 
80 fragile a substance, is surely remarkable. From the time at which I 
saw them to the earliest date would cover a period of forty-nine years. 
And most interesting is the evidence here conveyed of the persistence of 
the Moss, coupled with its arrested growth. The plants were so dry and 
brittle as to be easily rubbed to powder between the hands, and could 
with difficulty be removed without breaking them. Yet on placing some 
m water they revived so as to apparently present full vitality. 
This is not the first time I'have had my attention called to this plant 
and its semi-torpid habit. It must be of exceedingly slow growth; and 
I believe it is but rarely found in fruit. Though it is abundant on Lake 
I have never met a fertile specimen. — HENRY GILLMAN, 
3 Michigan. ; 
THE HYGROSCOPIC MECHANISM BY WHICH CERTAIN SEEDS ARE 
ENABLED TO Bury THEMSELVES IN THE GrouND.— Mr. Francis 
Darwin read an interesting paper on this subject at a recent meeting of 
