1 882.] Botany. 903, 



look down on it from above, to be but a short distance from the 

 summit; but of all things apparent distance is the most 

 deceptive. 



The thick undergrowth prevented us from seeing where we 

 ought to go, and so we went astray while the damp mossy bogs 

 and ravenous mosquitoes rendered life a burden. At length the 

 lake was reached. On its shores grew Sti up > s vnfi/t ii/o, us; 

 Claytonia caroliniana just budded, Andromeda polifolia now in 

 fruit, Sambucus pubcns, J'aciuium uligiuosum, 1'. ox y coccus, Ame- 

 lanchicr canadensis var. oligocarpa, while Viola blanda abounded 

 everywhere. We found our way back to the summit without 

 difficulty, and returned to the house well satisfied with our -day's 

 work. The night was enlivened by the unearthly cries of the 

 hedge-hogs which abound on the mountain ; in this case they de- 

 voted their energies to gnawing an empty butter tub to secure 

 the salt. 



The next morning we left the summit covered with clouds, and 

 descended by the carriage road to botanize in Smuggler's Notch. 

 This pass, which received its name from the fact that it was used 

 during the war of 181 2 by smugglers in. conveying contraband 

 goods from Canada to the United States, lies between Mt. Mans- 

 field and Mt. Shepley, hemmed in by cliffs sometimes towering to 

 the height of 1000 feet. While Mt. Mansfield was frequently 

 visited by botanists, the flora of the Notch remained compara- 

 tively uninvestigated. Frederick Pursh, an Englishman who 

 traveled quite extensively in this country while collecting mate- 

 rial for his Flora America? Septentrionalis, visited Mt. Mansfield 

 in 1807, and here first saw . h ; \ Hum at ulcatum, not before known 

 to exist in America ; but it is doubtful whether he entered the 

 Notch. Dr. Robbins visited Mt. Mansfield in 1829, but probably 

 not the Notch. 



In 1839 Professor Tuckerman collected Aspidium aculeatum on 

 the sides of Mt. Mansfield, but it is uncertain whether he visited 

 the Notch. C. C. Frost, many years ago collected this fern in the 

 Notch, but seems not to have traveled far from the trail. Profes- 

 sor Eaton visited the Notch in 1855, " but got," as he says " only 

 Aspidium aculeatum a few mosses, and seventy trout." 



But the rarities of the Notch were practically unknown till Mr. 

 C G. Pringle, a thorough investigator of our alpine flora, began 

 the exploration of its steeps, Aug. 10, 1876, when fresh from a 

 trip to Willou<rhby mountain. The next year Hoysradt and the 

 Faxon brother's accompanied him thither, and in 1H78 the Notch 

 was visited by Professors Gray and Sargent, and others 



The flora of the Notch is quite similar to that of V\ 

 mountain. A road leads to a tavern, now in ruins though for- 

 merly in some repute, at the entrance of the Notch proper. 

 Across the road from the tavern is a large spring of clear cold 

 Water, by the side of which we lunched. Along the side of the 



