304 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST.  [VOL. XXXIII. 
Everywhere along the streams were clumps of the giant pel- 
tate leaves of Sarifraga peltata, one of the most striking plants 
of the Californian mountains. - 
The natural meadows are a marked feature of this region. 
The absence of protracted drought permits the growth of 
perennial grasses and other meadow plants. White and red 
clover have become naturalized, and various Composite, like 
Rudbeckia and Erigeron, mixed with these, gave the meadows 
a very familiar aspect, although purple and white Brodizeas and 
some other western plants were mingled with them. 
Perhaps the most interesting plant met with near Castle 
Crag was the curious Darlingtonia — the Californian pitcher 
plant, which I saw growing for the first time. It occurs abun- 
dantly at several points near Castle Crag, but we found it in 
greatest perfection on a steep hillside sloping to the Sacra- 
mento. There are no peat bogs in this region such as harbor 
our eastern Sarracenias, but the plants were growing in the 
boggy ground made by the damming of a little stream which 
flowed down the hillside into the river. Here in the bed of the 
brook were growing dense clumps of the tall light-green trump- 
ets of the Darlingtonia. Some of these were quite two feet in 
height, and their vivid apple-green hoods were extremely con- 
spicuous. Here and there the greenish-yellow Sarracenia-like 
flowers nodded on tall stalks above the leaves, or were replaced 
by the oval green seed-vessels. Darlingtonia recalls the tall 
southern species of Sarracenia like S. variolaris, with which it 
agrees in the presence of the translucent spots in the hood, as 
well as the form of the pitcher. It is much less like S. pur- 
purea, which is its nearest neighbor among the Sarracenias. It 
would be interesting to know how this curious plant has become 
stranded high up in the Sierra Nevada, so far away from its 
eastern relations. 
While ferns were numerous in some localities, the number 
of species was not great, nor were mosses as abundant as might 
have been expected. Aside from the ubiquitous Pteris aguilina, 
the most noticeable ferns were Adiantum pedatum and Wood- 
wardia radicans, both of which attain great perfection on the 
shady hillsides, although neither can be said to be very common. 
