1889] Botany. 635 
on the bank of the creek one of the botanical discoveries of the trip 
was made. The little Azolla caroliniana Willd. (compared with 
specimens from California distributed by the Department of Agricul- 
ture, and one from Florida, collected by Canby), was found in 
considerable quantity growing in compact patches on the soft, black 
mud at the edge of the water. Underwood gives us the range of this 
interesting litde plant " from New York to Florida, Arizona and 
Oregon," — on both sides of the continent, — and now we have it in 
the very centre, the Nebraska sand-hill region. Near by, in little 
stagnant pools, the three duckweeds, Lemna minor L., L. trisulca 
L., and Spirodela polyrrhiza (L.) Schleid, grew in abundance, while 
out in the swift stream at this particular point (very common all along, 
as I observed afterwards) great ma-sses of Ranunculus aquatilis L. var. 
stagnatilis D. C, and Potamogeton sp., waved back and forth with the 
current. The profusion of the small white blossoms of the former, 
with the background of green readily seen beneath the .water, gave a 
pleasing effect. A spring was soon found, and with water we returned 
The appearance of the Dismal River at this point is very striking. 
A half mile away one would never suspect the presence of more than 
a small "draw" at most, but soon one begins a rapid descent, and 
suddenly we look over a small bluff, and there below us a hundred 
feet spreads out the green valley of the Dismal River. A small valley, 
indeed, here only about seven hundred feet in width, but from its 
location the most interesting I have ever visited. Turn this way, and 
one sees only sand-hill after sand-hill, stretching away as far as the eye 
can reach, the air over them quivering with the heat of an almost 
tropical sun ; face about, and there below is a green wooded belt, with 
underbrush in places forming almost a jungle, and, winding in and out, 
a clear, rippling stream. The coolness of the shaded valley seems to 
come rolling up in waves, enveloping the hot and tired collector as he 
gazes. 
The bluffs on the south of the valley rise al)ruptly to the height of 
almost three hundred feet. At one time tliey were heavily wooded 
with the red cedar {/uniperus virginiana L.), of which a few remain, 
but settlers for miles around depend upon this for their fuel and post- 
wood. The brush from cut trees was thrown in rows, about a rod 
apart, extending up the bluffs, and a fire lately burned over great 
patches of this, doing much damage to standing trees, so that now 
from a distance the bluffs present a striking black and grayish -striped 
appearance. 
