1911]  Blake,— Pteridophyte Notes from Eastern Mass. 101 
Nearby, but on a slightly lower level, are the ruins of a tiny mill, 
its basement walls, water way and wheel still surviving. Seeking 
out the proverbial “oldest inhabitant" I found that, while he had 
never noticed the plants in question, he was possessed of a keen mem- 
ory for the events of his earlier years. Welcoming a patient listener, 
he told me the story of the mill which for several generations prior 
to 1893 when it was burned, had contributed to the welfare of this 
isolated hamlet. For at least a part of its existence it had been 
devoted to the making of carpets, materials for which had been as- 
sembled from various sources. 
While it is known that the plants have been growing there for at 
least a dozen years, the period is probably much longer. It is doubt- 
less also safe to assume that the mill is responsible for their presence. 
And yet the wonder is that, having established themselves at all 
and having persisted so long, they have not increased their area 
far beyond the present limits. They have not even crossed to the 
opposite side of the narrow roadway where apparently conditions are 
identically the same. With the exception of a single plant found 
in an adjacent rather poor grass field, somewhat careful examina- 
tion failed to reveal any extension of the limits first noted. 
Boston, MASSACHUSETTS. 
PTERIDOPHYTE NOTES FROM EASTERN 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
SIDNEY F. BLAKE. 
Woodsia obtusa (Spreng.) Torr. Winter occurrences of this plant 
are apparently rather rare at least in this region, so that it may be 
well to record four small specimens (no. 288, my herb.) of this species, 
of varying degrees of greenness, collected on a large rock in Canton 
on 27 March, 1909. 
Dicksonia punctilobula (Michx.) Gray. On 21 March, 1909, I 
collected three small fronds (no. 285), which had endured the winter, 
on faces of cliffs in North Stoughton near the Avon boundary, pos- 
sibly one or two of them really inside Avon limits. My search in 
the same locality on 30 January, 1910, failed to bring any of the plants 
