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One of the earliest things found last season was Camptothecium nitens. 
I could scarcely believe in my good luck when I discovered this species, which 
was recognized almost immediately from one of Dr. Howe’s specimens which 
he sent me many years ago. His specimen from Washington county, and 
one sent by Judge Clinton from West Bergen swamp, are the only specimens 
from New York State in the State Herbarium at Albany. I watched this bed 
of moss all the summer and fall for fruit but none appeared, and so far as can 
be learned it is seldom found in fruit anywhere. It grows in a solid bed, 
three to four inches deep, and covering three or four feet of surface, mixed 
with Equiseta and grasses. 
Two mosses are very common in this swamp, and these also grow in solid 
masses: Gymnocybe palustris and Philonotis font ana. They are nearly 
always sterile though both have been found fruiting, Growing with these 
is another much rarer species — Hypnnm filicinum , this is most apt to be ster- 
ile. In another part of the bog, at the edge of solid ground, grows Fissidens 
adiantoides, mixed with Selaginella apus and Equisetum scirpoides. Of 
course in such a favorable spot Hypnum Schreberi is met with here and 
there, and a small form of Climacium Americanum, always sterile. Thuid- 
mm delicatulum is also very abundant. Hypnum cuspidatum, which the 
books report as being a rather rare species, is met with here but like most of 
the others is sterile. Amblystegium chry sophy llum is another barren species 
of this swamp. Bryum caespiticium fruits freely in the spring, but it seems 
to be about the only species that does so. Perhaps some of our moss experts 
can explain why the mosses growing here should be so unfertile. The 
swamp is an open one, filled in summer with Nephr odium, Thelypteris and 
Onoclea sensibilis , an occasional clump of willows and quantities of 
Equisetum hyemale. Late in the season the ferns have died away and it is 
then easy to find the plants that grow close to the ground. 
A few steps lower down the stream there stands a piece of woods, but the' 
soil underneath is fairly firm, with here and -there a damp depression. Many 
trees of goodly size grow here, while scattered over the ground lie a number 
of old windfalls. On the bark of the trees are found Leskea polycarpa , L. 
gracilescens , Anomondon minor , A. rostratus , Amblystegium v opium , A. 
adnatum and Thelia hirtella. The other species of Thelia seem to be 
scarce having been found but once in a piece of hill woods covering a large 
stone. The logs’ are covered with Entodon cy lindrothecium, E. seductrix , 
Brachythecium lcetu?n, B. salebrosum , Plagiothecium denticulatum , and 
other common Hypnums. 
Judging from this locality, it is not safe to conclude that because one has 
visited and even ransacked a spot once, there is nothing more to be found. 
Mosses are small and have a way of eluding observation. So it pays to visit 
the same locality several times in case one or two good things are found at 
first, as others are liable to be discovered later on. Clayville, N. Y. 
