30 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
[Vol. 9 
in thickness all along the valley. A search of th's valley, known as Split 
Rock Ravine, by Dr. Petry in the autumn of 191 8 resulted in the discovery 
of a single small colony. This colony, consisting of six mature^ plants, six 
young plants, and three groups of prothallia, is located on the south slope 
about fifty feet down from the base of the low cliff. It is just west of a 
dump of the Solvay picric acid plant and midway between it and a rock 
slide. It has since been learned that this colony had been discovered several 
years earlier by Dr. John B. Todd. 
In view of the extended lapse of time between the various discoveries of 
Scolopendrium at Split Rock, together with the lack of precise information 
as to the location of the original colony described by Pursh, it is difficult to 
decide whether the three reports (Pursh, 1807; Syracuse Botanical Club, 
1879; Petry, 1918) refer to the same or to different colonies. The quarrying 
operations have disturbed the region to such an extent that it is impossible 
to trace the details of topography mentioned in the former description, 
but the traces of the original general topography indicate that the present 
colony is at least in the vicinity of Pursh's original colony. The fact that 
observations elsewhere offer no evidence of formation of new colonies leads 
to the conclusion that the present small colony in Split Rock Ravine is 
either a remnant or an outlier of Pursh's original station. 
II. Chittenango Falls Station 
At this station Chittenango Creek flows in a northerly direction and 
plunges over a precipice one hundred feet or more in height, forming a 
deep gorge below. The west bank of this gorge is exceedingly steep and 
rocky, while the east bank is sloping and covered with soil. A short dis- 
tance below the fall two ravines enter the gorge from the west, at right 
angles to the stream. The discovery of Scolopendrium at this station by 
William Cooper in 1830 was first published by Gray (i) in 1866. Maxon 
(2) reported in 1900 that it grew scattered along the west bank below the 
falls for ''a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile." At the present time 
Scolopendrium occurs abundantly on the south bank of the second ravine 
below the gorge and from that point along the west bank of the main gorge 
up to within about 150 yards of the falls. Here, as elsewhere, it shows the 
characteristic habit of growing in groups or colonies. 
^ In dealing with the actual number of plants it has been found convenient to classify 
them into three groups: (a) mature plants, those having at least one leaf bearing sori; (&) 
young plants, those having one or more leaves of typical shape but not bearing sori; (c) 
sporelings and prothallia. This last group includes all the stages from the time the prothallia 
are recognizable up to the time when the leaves take on the characteristic shape. 
The prothallia and sporelings almost invariably occur in groups which may contain 
several dozen individuals; these groups seldom contain prothallia of other species, but when 
such mixed groups do occur, the Scolopendrium prothallia are easily distinguished from the 
other species. In tabulations, prothallia and sporelings are listed by groups, and no attempt 
has been made to count the individuals. 
