1900] Noyes, — Ferns of Alstead, New Hampshire 185 
sensibilis. Here in the deep soil its fronds greatly exceed in size 
those which we ordinarily see in the meadows, and they appear like 
the basal leaves of some flowering plant. When the first frosts of 
autumn come the sterile fronds blacken and shrivel, and only the 
stiff fruiting fronds remain, brown and torn. 
My attention has been drawn, likewise, to a group of fern-allies, the 
Ophioglossaceae, which here present a very fair display of species. 
Within a mile of the school I find four species of Botrychium, the 
moonwort. B. virginianum is most common, its platform-like sterile 
portion often a foot and a half wide, most exquisitely cut, and, with 
the long-peduncled fruiting frond, raised high above the other her- 
baceous vegetation of the dry woods. Not so attractive a plant, but 
one fully as interesting to find, is B. matricariacfolium, which occurs 
frequently among the leaves under deciduous trees. Its sterile pinnae 
are small, but coarse and of thick texture, the fruiting portion being 
the conspicuous part of the plant. Not far from this species, but 
mostly among pine needles, I found, by searching on hands and 
knees, the tiny plants of B. /anceolatum. In some places only the 
fruiting tips appeared, while below, half covered, were the finely-cut 
sterile pinnae. So frail are these two species that I was moved by an 
impulse to tiptoe over the pine needles least I should crush one plant, 
Botrychium ternatum, with its many varieties, does not appear so 
commonly in this region as in localities near Boston. A single form 
has thus far been noted, the variety zumZermedium, which rarely grows 
in open pasture lands. 
One hot morning, after studying the plate in Gray's Manual, I 
hunted in a sunny meadow for the adder's-tongue, Ophioglossum vul- 
gatum, and for some time the closest search did not reveal the smooth, 
oval leaf and the uncanny green fruit-stalk. But when I discovered 
at first one, then another, and another, among the tall meadow grass, 
my delight was keen indeed. Further exploration has shown the 
plant to be not uncommon in meadows and damp fields, where its 
characteristic yellow roots are deeply buried in the sod. 
ALSTEAD SCHOOL OF NATURAL HISTORY: 
Alstead Centre, N. H. 
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