BULLETIN OF THE TORREY BOTANICAL Cur. 
Vol. VI, Nos, 50, 51.) [New York, March, 1879. 
§ 297. A New Hawaiian Fern.—Hymenophyllum Baldwinii. 
—Subspithameum : frondibus lanceolatis vel ovato-lanceolatis lete 
viridibus tenerrimis bi-tripinnatifidis; pinnis primariis oblique-diver- 
gentibus plerumque rachi anguste alate adnatis inferioribus solutis ; 
pinnulis simplicibus vel in segmentis paucis oblongis obtusis emarg- 
inatisve margine integerrimis nudis divisis; segmentis infimis cujus- 
dam pinnulz abbreviatis apice soriferis ; involucris subrotundis fere 
ad basin usque brevem alatam bilobis, lobis integerrimis, receptaculo 
columnari ; stipite brevi rachique basin versus pilis rufis subulatis 
hispidis. 
Abundant in a little valley in Oahu, at 2,500 feet above the sea; 
Hon. D. D. Baldwin, 1878. ‘The rhizoma may be elongated and 
creeping, but having seen only the ends of rhizomes bearing half a 
dozen clustered fronds, 1 am unable to say whether it is long or 
short. The fronds are from three to six inches long, the shorter 
ones lanceolate and bi-pinnatifid, the larger ones ovate-lanceolate 
and tri-pinnatifid. ‘The very short and hirsute or hispid stalks, and 
the shorter and more delicately membranaceous segments will easily 
distinguish it from A. recurvum. H. scabrum, of New Zealand, is a 
larger and coarser plant, and has the hairs of the stalk heavier and 
composed of very short articulations, while in 47, Baldwinit the hairs 
have very long joints, and taper from a slightly swollen base to a long 
and very delicate point. I take pleasure in naming it for a gentle- 
man who has shown great interest in the cryptogamic vegetation of 
the Hawaiian Islands. 
Mr. Baldwin has also sent specimens of 7richomanes pyxidiferum, 
Linn., a species which is, I believe, new to the Hawaiian Islands. 
He reports that it is abundant in certain localities in Maui. D.c.B. 
§ 298. A few notes on the abnormal absence of color in 
plants.<In the few observations which follow, it is not expected 
that anything new will be found ; the object is more to call attention 
to a few facts which seems to have been generally passed over 
in botanical researches as devoid of interest. The whole sub- 
ject arranges itself under two heads. ‘The first will comprise true 
“albinos,” or such plants as have spontaneously, in a state of nature, 
lost their colors and become white flowered. ‘The second relates to 
those plants in which the colors have been more or less eliminated 
by artificial means. 
First then, we have to consider those “sports” of nature where 
there has been a sudden change, without any intermediate steps, 
from a plant with colored flowers to a pure white variety ; which 
change, for want of a better term, we call “spontaneous.” Such 
may be aptly termed “negative ” varieties, since their peculiarity 
is due rather to an adsence of their normal color, ther to the presence 
of white. 
It is nothing uncommon to see, in many species, a gradual 
change from a brightly colored individual, through ‘successive 
lighter and lighter ones, until a pure white is reached. This may 
be seen very well in Hepatica Hee: which comprises individuals 
