197 
upward, being in fact sub-circinate, so that in his classification of 
the different kinds of vernation he places this species in a class by 
itself which he calls “ vernatio sub-circinata.”” ‘This, if correct, ap- 
pears to me to be a most important point, as it would show a much 
closer relationship to the true order of Filices than is usually recog- 
nized in this genus, but I have not been able to verifyit. The figure 
of the bud given by Milde does not in any way agree, either with 
his text, or my own examinations, and is a very unsatisfactory pre- 
sentation of the bud as it really is; yet I can hardly understand how 
so thorough and careful an investigator should be mistaken in so 
important a particular. I can only say that I have found the buds 
in this species to be precisely as I describe them. I cannot explain 
the arrangemént of the two portions of the bud better than. by say- 
ing that the fertile frond starts from the main stalk below the base of 
the sterile frond, folds its primary divisions inwardly, and turning 
downward its apex—the tip of which in the buds examined by my- 
self I have found to be slightly curved inwardly but not again turn- 
ed up,—lies close up to the inner surface of the main stalk, and that 
then the sterile frond bends down its own apex, over which it folds 
its upper divisions and continues to fold in the succeeding divisions, 
until the two lower primary segments clasp the top of the fertile 
frond. If one will close each hand separately, and then place both 
together so as to form a double fist, with the thumbs bent down- 
ward, inside, he will have a very good idea of the manner in which 
B. ternatum folds in the divisions of its two fronds, while the bent 
thumbs will very nearly represent the curved apex as I have found 
it, in my examinations. ‘The buds for the second and third years 
are perfectly smooth. That for the second year shows a develop- 
ment. quite similar to the bud in &, Zunaria for the first year; that 
for the third year is too small to be clearly defined by an ordinary 
pocket lens. (Mr. Emerton’s figure, No. 8, shows the position of the 
buds of two following years in the base of the first year’s bud.) I give 
two figures of the bud in this species, figure 8 showing the arrange- 
ment of the fertile and sterile fronds, and figure 9 representing the 
natural appearance of the bud with its shaggy covering. Being 
still anxious to verify Milde’s statement in regard to the apex 
of the fertile panicle in this species, I wrote to Mr. Robinson, 
requesting him to make some independent examinations with this 
object in view. The result has only confirmed my own observations, 
Still, unwilling to believe that Milde is in error, I would rather 
attribute our apparent disagreement to a want ol properly under- 
standing him on my part, and believe that the difference may yet in 
some way be satisfactorily explained. Mr. Robinson has also made 
some very interesting camera observations on longitudinal sections 
of that portion of the stipe containing the buds, from freshly gath- 
ered living plants of fernatum-obliquum, in which he traces the buds 
for 1878-79-80, and possibly 81, showing how well this genus pro- 
vides for the growth of succeeding years. f 
In B. Vircintanum the whole of the bud, including the common 
stalk, is more or less clothed with a hairy pubescence, but not suffi- 
ciently so to obscure the arrangement of the two portions, which 
