Rhodora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 3 March, 1gor No. 27 
FERNS OF MT. TOBY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
Maria L. Bory 
THE description in Ruopora! of the delightful fern ravine in 
Thetford, Vermont, moves me to tell of our Western Massachusetts 
fern paradise. This is Mt. Toby, five or six miles north of Amherst, 
a favorite resort of botanists for other growths as well as ferns. Mr. 
Solomon Stebbins of Springfield tells me that within a circle not 
over two miles in diameter some fifty species and varieties of ferns 
(including some of the allied Adder's Tongue family) may be found, 
—the exact number hard to state on account of the varieties, for 
some of these are ill-defined and it is difficult to know whether to 
count them ornot. The diversity of surface affords a suitable habitat 
for the rock and the wood ferns, those that love pasture, meadow, 
marsh or brookside, and so we have first, eighteen of the nineteen 
in the Thetford list, all common ; but the nineteenth, Aspidium acu- 
leatum, var. Braunii, does not grow in our State so far as known. 
Cystopteris fragilis and Onoclea sensibilis can always be found finely 
fruited. Asplenium angustifolium, though local, is abundant in spots, 
and Aspidium acrostichoides, var. incisum, not infrequent. 
Mt. Toby gives us in addition the following : Zz/ea gracilis grows 
in crevices, on shaded rocks and at the foot of dripping ledges, 
while P. atropurpurea can always be found on certain dry rocks, but 
is not so common. Asplenium Trichomanes and A. ebeneum, and a 
form of the latter with incised pinnae also occur, together with 4. 
Filix-foemina and several variations — Michauxii, rigidum, laciniatum 
and exile, whether allowed as varieties or only forms. These grow 
1 Vol. ii, 229. 
v cR hon PALYA TUT 
