50 



scape of Aplectrum hyemale, Nutt., and undoubtedly the flowers can 



be obtained before long. 



The next monthly meeting will be held at Millburn, Essex Co., 



on Saturday, June 12th. 



Walter M. Wolfe, Secretary, 



Montclair, N. J., May izih^ 1880. 



F 



39. A New Fern-— With some ferns collected in the Chiricahui 

 and Oro Blanco mountains of South-eastern Arizona by Wm. M. 

 Courtis, and placed in my hands by Prof. Gray, I find a new^ species 

 of Notholaena^ which I name in honor of one to whom I am indebted 

 for many courtesies, and take advantage of the opportunity thus 

 afforded to show my appreciation of them in this manner. 



The other ferns collected by Mr. Courtis are Gyntnogramme 

 hispida^ Mett., Notholaena sinnata^ Klf., Cheilanthes Wrightii^ Hooker, 

 Cheildnthes Lijidheimeri^ Hooker, and Pellaea Wrightiana, Hooker. 



Notholaena Grayi, ;?. <f/.— Stipes tufted?, ii-3i' l<^"g' terete, 

 chestnut-brown, with nearly black, rigid, linear-acuminated scales 

 below, paler, deciduous scales above; fronds 2''-4' in length, f'-ij' 

 broad, oblong-lanceolate, once, or twice pinnate, upper surface spar- 

 ingly, under thickly covered with white powder ; rachises brown like 

 the stipes, coated with a granular substance, extending down the 

 stipes, and clothed with long, slender, entire or ciliated pale or 

 whitish scales ; pinnae short-talked, oblique, unequally triangular- 

 ovate, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate in different specimens (lowest 

 pair nearly deltoid and distant, uppermost lanceolate), deeply pin- 

 natified, or pinnately divided into i or 2 pairs of short-stalked or 

 sessile, oblong, pinnatifid, obtuse pinnules, the remaining portion 

 obliquely pinnatifid with alternate, lobed or entire segments ; mar- 

 gins unchanged, reflexed. Sori brown, in a continuous line at the 

 ends of the free veins. 



Hab. Mountains of South-eastern Arizona, growing in clumps 

 on the grassy slopes of the foot-hills. Wm. M. Courtis. February 

 or March, 1880. 



A lovely fern, so different from any known species, that, notwith- 

 standing the small amount of material at hand, there can scarcely be 

 a doubt as to its distinct character. In structure it is not unlike N^ 

 distans^ R. Br., but in that species the fronds are hairy, longer, and 

 wholly destitute of powder. Its nearest affinity is with N, affinis, 

 Hook., but it is separated from that species by its more compound 

 fronds, and distinct scaly rachises. There is no other species with 

 which it can be compared. Under the microscope, the white powder 

 separates into distinctly stalked gland-like bodies with enlarged con- 

 ical, flat or inverted heads like a miniature host of fungi with their 

 variously shaped caps. With a power of 200 diameters, or even less, 

 the scales of^ the frond appear to be composed of elongated, cylin- 

 drical, tapering tubes containing a light brown coloring matter, col- 

 lected into a mass at the base, or in spots at intervals throughout the 

 length of the otherwise whitish scales, which are thus made to appear 

 jointed. 



The species is one of the most elegant yet discovered, and I take 



