00 



are two large specimens, one having a trunk not far from i^ feet in 

 diameter. The wood is as valuable as that of J. nigra, and the 

 small nuts are rich and sweet. hi -(J fF jj 



Ophioglossum vulgalum.— This fern has not yet been credited 

 to the Pacific ^ast, though its presence here has been suspected. 

 Mr. and Mrs. Lemmon collected it last year in Arizona. In Febru- 

 ary, 1850, Dr. C. C. Parry collected it at San Diego, but he obtained 

 only a few specimens, which were lost while en route to New York. 



To-day, Dr. Parry and I rediscovered this plant growing upon 

 the high mesa, near the public school building. We collected it in 

 many places, widely separated. We found it with Bodecathecn 

 Meadia (var.), Saxifraga Farryi, a small form of Sdaginella rupestris, 

 and a liverwort. It grows in grassy, and often stony spots, which 

 are not specially wet ; indeed, some of them are quite dry. During 

 a large portion of the year the soil in which this fern grows is dry 

 and hard. 



No doubt, if botanists will go doivn upon their knees, a little 

 close observation will result in the finding of this fern at other points 

 in this State, and perhaps in Oregon. 



San Diego, California, March 7th, 1882. D. Cleveland. 



Hybrid Oaks.— Wh 



J 



ing tree of the European Quercus Robur. i Have since raiseu nuimicua 

 of young acorns from this isolated tree. These have borne, and 

 young trees from these have had acorns. I have two generations ot 

 fruiting trees from this single one. I can say from this experience 

 that like usually begets like, but here and there remarkable leaps 

 occur. Now, it may be, a tree has leaves wholly sessile, another may 

 have leaves with petioles a quarter of an inch long. I have had in- 

 stances of trees with leaves as nearly entire as those of a chestnut 

 oak, while others would have them so deeply lobed as to be fairly 

 pinnatifid. And the acorns vary. Some are very little longer than 

 broad, while others are double the length, and form perfect cylinders. 

 How or why these strange leaps occur I could never satisfy my mind. 

 That they are not due to hybridization is certain. That it must be 

 owing to some innate power to change, is equally clear, whatever the 

 nature of that power may be. An interesting fact m connection with 

 these occasional great leaps from the common form is that tie 

 change, once secured, is almost as hereditary as are the features ot tiie 

 parent form. Here and there, as in this parent, there will be a sud- 

 den departure, many often in the direction of the original though 

 not always so. I could give many illustrations from other trees, as 

 well as from this one English oak. 



The conclusion that I have been forced to is that the odd forms we 

 often find in nature are not necessarily hybrids, but are as likely, 1^ 

 not more likely to be the outgrowth of some internal law of form 

 with which we are as yet unacquainted. That they do "ot often 

 perpetuate themselves is remarkable when we remember that of 

 thousands of seeds produced on any one tree, but a very small per- 



