12 
Proceedings of the Torrey Botanical Club —At a meeting of 
the Club, held at Columbia College Tuesday evening, December 
1 2th, Prof. E, H. Day, in the absence of the presiding officers, occu- 
" pied the chair. 
The Librarian reported on the books and periodicals received 
for the library since the last meeting. 
Mr. B. B, Chamberlin exhibited a specimen of Rubus with a fas- 
ciated stalk, 
Acrostichum aureu77i Grotving by Fresh Water. — Prof, Day ex- 
hibited specimens of Acrostichum auretmi^ L., collected by him in 
Cuba,and one oi Aneimia adiantifolia^ S\v., from New Providence, W.I. 
The specimens of A?ieh?tia had four fertile segments on the frond. 
With regard to the Acrostichum^ Prof, Day remarked that Prof. 
Eaton, in Ferns of North America (Vol. ii., p. 95), writes of this 
species as "being perhaps the only known fern which grows only 
within the influence of salt water; " and he quotes Dr, Garber as cor- 
roborating this statement in regard to the localities to which it is 
restricted in Florida. Several authorities referred to agree with this 
view; though J. Smith, in the Historia Filicum (p. 146), says it is 
found 'Mn most fern regions throughout the tropics of both hemi- 
spheres." The specimens exhibited were found growing luxuriantly 
by the side of a fresh-water stream, several miles inland, at an eleva- 
tion of at least one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet above the 
sea and on the southern side of a range of hills, the side away from 
the ocean, where there was no suspicion of brackish water or of 
marine influence. It is thus' an interesting question whether this 
fern had migrated up the stream, or whether it had survived the 
geological change which had elevated the range of limestone hills on 
which it occurs, gradually adapting itself to the change of soil and 
conditions. 
Mr. Britton called attention to a specimen of the same species, 
in the Torrey Herbarium, from Pine Key, Florida, collected by the 
late C. F. Austin, which is labelled '' fresh-water pools." This, how- 
ever, does not necessarily indicate that it was out of reach of marine 
influence. 
Mr. Britton reported that he had observed an instance in New 
Jersey where Andro^neda Mariana^ L., had flowered a second time 
during the season. 
Mr. HoUick read a paper on the Flora of Richmond County, N. 
Y,, giving a list of the additions that had been made thereto, and of 
the new stations that had been observed during 1880, 1881 and 1882. 
The Chairman of the Herbarium Committee reported that the 
collection of plants left by the late M. Ruger had been incorporated 
with the Club's herbarium, and that the latter at present contains 
1,203 species, represented by about 1,400 specimens, all of which 
have been properly labelled and arranged, and catalogued for refer- 
ence. The Committee recommended that the field of the Club's 
herborizations be extended from a radius of 30 to one of 100 miles 
around New York City. The suggestion was agreed to. 
One person was elected an active member. 
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