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VANCOUVER ISLAND BRYOLOGY, No. 1 
Dr. John W. Bailey. 
Vancouver Island, which lies off the west coast of British Columbia, is 
mountainous, well wooded with evergreens on the highlands, and with alder 
and maple in the bottom lands. During seven months of the year it is 
shrouded with fog and bathed with gentle rains on the coast, while heavy 
snows fall in the interior. At this time every hillside depression becomes a 
rivulet and evfery ravine a rushing mountain torrent. On account of the 
amount of moisture in the atmosphere and the equibility of the climate, it 
presents an ideal habitat for many species of mosses, nearly all of which 
fruit abundantly. There is but little limestone on the island. Conglomer- 
ates, sandstone and shales are found associated with the coal deposits in the 
neighborhood of Nanaimo and Cumberland on the East Coast. My collect- 
ing was done at the latter place, forty miles south of the fiftieth parallel of 
latitude. 
Cumberland is near Comox, a locality which Macoun visited some years 
ago for bryological purposes. Thirty miles to the south the extinct crater 
of Mt. Arrowsmith rises to an altitude of 5,600 feet, from whose sides and 
summit Macoun brought many interesting mosses. In this region the tree 
mosses are the first to attract one’s attention. The maple trees ( Acer macro- 
phy linin') are covered with great mats or pillows of them. Neckera Men- 
ziesii prefers the trunks of these trees while N. Douglasii is found on the 
upper branches, though they grow intermingled. Nothing bryological is 
handsomer than the delicate orange colored capsules of N. Douglasii lying 
among the pale green leaves of the plant. N. Douglasii prefers moist shady 
localities for developing its sphorophyte. N. Menziesii fruits at low alti- 
tudes whereever found. Its pinnae are a coppery red color, the capsule 
inserted and dark red in color. 
Antitrichia curtipendula gig ante a occurs in great cushions, more often 
on the horizontal limbs of trees. It grows on the evergreens as well as on 
the deciduous trees. The stoloniferous portion of the plant bears the cap- 
sule and it, like Neckera Douglasii, prefers dark cool situations in which to 
develop it. In late winter or early spring the growing tips of this moss are 
a golden yellow and the sombre forest takes on a new aspect, when these 
fresh yellow points begin to cover the brown cushions of previous years. I 
found very little Antitrichia California, and judged that Cumberland was 
out of its range. 
Eurhynchium stoloniferum is found near the coast, at higher altitudes 
it disappears. Probably none of our coast mosses is more variable. It grows 
on wood or rocks. There are four distinct forms of it growing about Cum- 
berland : the stoloniferous (var. sub stoloniferum ) in long hairy masses on 
limbs of trees ; a very large form growing in dark damp woods; a smaller 
tawny colored form growing on rocks in canons but not stoloniferous. This 
hung in long festoons over the rocks; a julaceous form, which when dry 
simulated Scleropodium obtusifolium , found on rocks in brooks wet by the 
spray of the rushing water, growing just above high water mark. Although 
